Trump of the Moon
by swift56
Summary: Secrets older than time itself come undone, and a forgotten evil scatters across the earth. The Battle Royal begins anew, now with many more players on the side of humanity.
1. Card 1

**Surprise new story!**

 **So, yeah, we're doing Blade and Sailor Moon.**

 **To make this clear, we're using the original anime, BUT! We'll add in elements of the original manga and Crystal, to make it a more 'Ultimate' Sailor Moon experience.**

 **We need to throw you guys a few curveballs after all, and trust me, there's going to be... well, a LOT in this.**

 **Some more surprising than others.**

* * *

The night was quiet as not a person was out that night, the people of the city nearby sleeping peacefully. It was for the best, so that none of them bore witness to the battle that was taking place. In the woods nearby, the sound of battle could be heard, the sound of blades clashing filling the air, two figures fighting one another.

The first of them was a monster of some kind, with a mostly black body, sporting yellow arms with spikes shaped somewhat like deer antlers on its shoulders, while its head was shaped similar to that of an actual deer with gold antlers coming out of the top of his skull, while he held two long blades made out of deer antlers in his hands.

The other fighter looked more like a human in armor, with a large blocky belt buckle at their waist that depicted a gold spade over a red background. They wore a navy blue suit over their body, and over said suit was silver armor on the boots, shins, kneecaps, forearms, knuckles and torso, though they did have gold colored cuffs over their wrists. Their torso armor depicted yet again the symbol of the spade suit right in the middle, while their helmet was mostly a navy blue with the front being a silver color with a single horn pointing upwards, while bearing red lens over his eyes that looked like the compound eyes of an insect. In his hand was an interestingly designed sword with a silver edge while the main body of it was navy blue with gold highlights, with a silver spade on the handguard, though said handguard looked rather bulky.

The two fought fiercely, weapons clashing, neither giving quarter, before the blue warrior kicked the deer monster back. The deer monster growled before lightning crackled through its body, which it sent flying towards the warrior who rolled and dodged, evading the deadly onslaught, before immediately using the opening that was created when the creature finished its attacked and landed several savage slashes on its body, sparks flying each time the blade made impact, before ending with a stab into the creature's gut, earning a roar of pain as green blood fel from the stab wound. However, the warrior didn't let up, immediately pulling his sword back, before flipping it into a reverse grip, and using the guard as a knuckle to land a savage punch across the creature's face, knocking it back. The creature rolled to a stop, as it shakily started to get back to its feet, but little did it know...the battle was already decided.

Acting quickly, the warrior's free hand went to the side of his sword's guard, and pulled at a tab, unfolding a hidden compartment of several slots, 9 in total, all looking like some kind of playing cards. One in particular, the 6 of Spades, glowed blue, as if reacting to the creature's presence. However, the warrior paid it no heed just yet, as his and went for the 5 of Spades, a card depicting a Locust, with the word 'Kick' on the side and the name 'Kick Locust' under the picture. Grabbing it, he pulled it out and ran it through the side of the weapon, which turned out to hold a scanner. When he did, the slots folded back into his weapon, while the weapon called out " **Kick!** " as the card turned into a large hologram-like image of the Locust which soon absorbed into the chest armor. Steam seemed to be released from his armor as he moved into a stance, before planting his sword into the ground, before he tensed and jumped upward, flipping forward in the air, before pulling into a flying kick, his body suddenly propelled forward, his foot impacting the creature square in the chest, causing it to be sent to the ground, before it exploded into a ball of flames. However, when the flames died down, the creature was still fully intact, but laying on the ground, breathing weak, while on its waist, a belt buckle like object which looked like an ouroboros circling the letters 'U' and 'D' split open, separating the two letters as well as the snakes and revealing the symbol of spades on the top and bottom with the number 6 in the middle of the belt.

Seeing that, the warrior immediately unfolded his sword once more, the 6 of Spades glowing blue again, and this time he drew it, before with practiced ease, he flicked his wrist, sending the card spinning towards the creature where it embedded into the creature's chest, before it started to glow, the creature turning into green energy before it was sucked into the card. Once it was fully absorbed, the card began spinning in the air again before flying back to the warrior, who deftly caught it, revealing the picture that once depicted chains now depicted a deer with antlers shaped like lightning bolts.

Once that was done, the warrior slotted the card back into his weapon, before releasing a relieved sigh. "Okay, that's 2 down… and a LOT more to go." he said, before he turned around and walked away, soon coming upon a road where a motorcycle was parked. It was a dirt bike in shape, though it was lightly armored in blue and silver with a red seat and yellow lights on the front, while the small window at the front was shaped like a spade out of blue glass.

The warrior got on it silently, starting it up quickly, and rode off towards the city he had been fighting near.

As he rode out, he never noticed a figure standing on a hill within the trees, wearing a silver belt with a smaller rectangular buckle that featured a red heart in the middle, wearing a black undersuit with gold highlights all over it, silver armor on his boots, shins, kneecaps, forearms and chest while his shoulders were covered in black armor. Though his chest was molded into the vague shape of a heart. His helmet was black in color with a silver mouthplate, while his visor was red and in the shape of a heart, with two blade shaped antenna sticking out of the helmet.

They were leaning against a black bike that featured gold highlights, a red seat, and what looked like a pair of silver mantis sickles sticking out of the head of the bike, while the front lights were a red color.

"It's going to be a long fight… Blade." the figure spoke quietly.

* * *

Battle Royal. To anyone in this day and age, they would think 'Battle Royale', a free for all fight between multiple fighters. However...to some it had another meaning. To a select few, the word was the secret to the reason for humanity's existence as the dominant species on the planet. Ten thousand years ago, longer than any civilization, there was once a great battle to determine the rulers of the world. 52 immortal beings known as the Undead fought in what was known as the Battle Royal, the winner would have their progeny become the dominant race of the world. It was a bloody battle, but through it all, a winner was decided. Category 2 of Hearts: the Human Undead. And so it was, that humanity became the dominant race on the planet, and the Undead were all sealed away, never to see the light of day again. However… the unthinkable has happened, and the seal has been broken. Now the Undead roam the land once more, seeking to create a new Battle Royal, and once more decide who's progeny deserves to rule the world.

 **(Intro: Round Zero ~ Blade Brave)**

 _*Music*_

As the music starts, the light dims to reveal that it was from spotlights as the scene reveals Blade and Chalice standing side by side, before the scene shifts to also show the Inner Senshi standing together on what appear to be platform stages.

 _Tatta hitorikiri kimi no sonzai ga_

The scene changes to show several figures dressed in a variety of formal suits standing on various platforms as the lights shine on them, before the scene changes to show Kensuke dressed in a shirt tie and vest, playing with a Game Gear with an amused look on his face as a banner with a Spade symbol hangs behind him, followed by a shot of Kelch dressed in a buttoned up shirt and vest, reading a book with the Heart symbol on it before snapping it shut and looking at the screen and adjusting his glasses.

 _Itsuka sekai no subete kaeru darou_

The scene changes to show a shot of Usagi dressed in a navy blue business woman suit with the vest unbuttoned as she pops a mochi cake into her mouth with a happy smile, while Luna has an amused yet tired smile from where she's hanging off the girl's shoulder. Following that is a shot of Ami in a light blue business dress as she's seemingly typing on something albeit with a smile on her face. The scene shifts to show Rei in a red suit as she's holding a charm before throwing it, followed by a shot of Makoto in a shirt and green vest as she does a roundhouse kick, landing perfectly on her feet.

 _Koko ni aru mo no wa kibou? Zetsubou?_

The scene changes again to show Minako in an orange business woman suit as she winks and blows a kiss at the screen with Artemis giving her an amused look from her shoulder, before the scene shifts to Mamoru who is wearing a suit and tie with a top hat as he swings a cane through the air, before taking off his hat. The scene changes again to show a young man with tanned skin dressed in a full shirt and suit, popping his collar a little as he holds the fedora on his head over his eyes, followed by a shot of a young man in a suit as well wearing a bowler hat with short auburn hair peeking out of it as he dribbles a soccer ball with his legs before pulling the hat over his face.

 _Round Zero hajimatteru_

The scene changes to show Kensuke and Kelch holding up their Ace cards, while the Inner Senshi are holding their transformation devices.

 _Shiranai to iu tsumi to shirisugiru wana_

The scene changes to show a shot of Queen Beryll with the Shitennou, while a mass of darkness rises from behind them, which soon engulfs the screen. The scene then changes to show a rain of Rouze Cards which glow green as the Undead are unleashed from them.

 _Ugokenaku naru mae ni ugokidasou_

The heroes stand before the many enemies, faces determined, before they initiate their respective transformations, as the screen is covered in light.

 _Kaze ni mekurareta card Uranau you ni warau_

The light subsides to reveal Blade, Chalice, and the Inner Senshi along with Tuxedo Kamen, before they are soon surrounded by the many enemies, Blade and Chalice striking down several Undead, before they draw blanks and seal the Undead into them.

 _Mayowanai hazu mo nai soredemo ashita wo sagase_

The scene changes again to show the Senshi fighting against many Youma, they and Tuxedo Kamen watching each other's backs as they hold off the onslaught of enemies.

 _Mekurumeku unmei Koware sou na jidai ni_

The scene changes again, now showing the Riders and Senshi fighting together, breaking through enemy lines, before they were soon faced with Queen Beryl with Metalia behind her.

 _Kirifuda wa kimi no naka...togisumasareta yuuki ni shite_

As one, the group prepared their best moves, before a flurry of finishers were launched forward, to which Beryl countered with her own magic, the two forces clashing with great force.

 _BLADE BRAVE_

The final scene changes to show the group once more on stage and in their transformed state, standing tall together.

* * *

It was a rather peaceful morning in the Minato Ward of Tokyo, as people were waking up and getting ready for the day. However for some...that was easier said than done. Case in point, the sound from one apartment where in the bedroom there wasn't one, but THREE alarms going off at the same time, each in different parts of the room, forcing the owner of said apartment to have to get up to turn off the alarms.

And even with the three ringing alarms, it took several minutes before their sleep addled brain took notice of the disturbance and brought them out of their utterly random dream of ninjas and demons.

Groaning as he got out of bed, he yawned tiredly, before getting up revealing himself to be a young man that looked to be in his later teens, with light brown hair that was just a bit long, though he was a definite oddity in Japan what with having blue eyes. He was tired, but even then he began stumbling to the bathroom. It was time to start the day...whether he liked it or not.

Several minutes later had him stepping out of his bathroom, completely dressed in a blue t-shirt and a white button up shirt over it, with a pair of jeans and simple sneakers… and having given his hair a quick cut in the shower from the looks of it. "It looks fine, glad I did it myself in the end. Can't visit mom to do it for me and the salons in the area are all WAY too packed with people." he said as he looked at himself in a small mirror hanging off the wall in front of the bathroom door.

What? The one in the bathroom got too fogged up from all the steam for him to use it properly, even if he tried to clean it off. Grabbing a quick bite of breakfast, he was soon on his way to start his day. He had classes in the morning, then he'd work part time in the local arcade in the evening.

He passed by his neighbour in the apartment complex on his way out "Hi Mamoru, bye Mamoru."

The black haired boy barely had time to blink as the slightly older boy passed by him fast enough to leave a breeze, making his green jacket flap a bit from the leftover wind. He looked at the other boy go...before shrugging and continuing on. This was...honestly a fairly common occurrence at this point.

Back with the man who was power walking, he covered a good deal of distance by then, before something out of the norm for him happened. A girl no doubt in Junior High, and if he recognized the uniform right...was probably from Juban Municipal, came running no doubt in a hurry as she was running late...only to trip on...okay, he really didn't see WHAT she could have tripped on, but the end result was the same. "Are you okay?!" he gasped as he helped her up.

"I'm fine. Just a bruise." the girl said with a groan as she accepted his hand and pulled herself up with his help, her long, blonde (strange to see in Japan) hair styled in twin tails dragging up with her and even when she stood they nearly touched the ground. Though now that he got a good look at the hair, it was actually styled to have two small buns on top from which the twin tails fell from, meaning her hair DID touch the ground if it was undone. And when she opened her eyes, he was surprised to see her sporting blue eyes just like himself, making him blink in confusion 'Is she… no, I would have recognized her.'

"Uh...is something wrong?" the girl asked, and he realized he'd been staring.

"Ah...no, sorry," he quickly said, while also letting go of her hand.

The two were silent for a few seconds, not really sure what to say, until… "Ah! Wait, I'm gonna be late!" the girl said "Thanks for the help, see you again… maybe." she said awkwardly, before running off again towards her school.

He blinked as he watched her run...before looking at his watch and gasping. "And I'd better hurry too!" with that he was running to university as well.

* * *

He was really glad that his classes were only in the morning, because the lord knows he much prefered what he did in the afternoon, looking up at the sign that read Game Center Crown.

"Oh, Kensuke, you're here." He heard someone say as he entered the arcade, making him look to the counter to see a young man with dirty blonde hair, though he wasn't surprised with the color because he knew the boy used hair dye.

"Yo, Motoki." Kensuke said with a small wave as he walked into the employee room, coming out a few minutes later with a simple apron on over his outfit, a rather silly uniform in his opinion, but he had to wear it anyway.

"So, this is my second day working here, am I finally going to meet this mystery rowdy customer who made it so you had to hire me?" Kensuke asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Probably," Motoki chuckled. It wasn't a lie either, since he had no way of knowing if or when some of their more lively customers would be coming or not.

"That's not very comforting," Kensuke mused as he went to work checking on the game cabinets that were out, as well as some of the ones that were going to be installed soon, like that Sailor V cabinet that they were keeping under a tarp for now and would only be playable in a few days. "Sailor V, huh…" he mused. An actual superhero in the city. The world was definitely changing.

His ears perked up when he heard the doors to the arcade open, though he couldn't see them as he was behind a few cabinets at the moment, and the a somewhat familiar voice started speaking.

"I'm really glad that exam is over though, I honestly felt like was taking an eternity!" said a teenage girl's voice with probably some amount of exaggeration.

Peeking his head out from behind the cabinet he was working on...he blinked when he saw that it was in fact the same girl he'd met earlier in the day.

"Hey there Motoki! Got anything new in yet?" the blonde asked, while her auburn haired friend with a bow in her hair followed along.

"Not just yet, but we're going to install a new cabinet in a few days, it's a secret until then." the dirty blonde said with a chuckle.

"Okay!" the girl smiled brightly before she began looking around, trying to decide what she wanted to play. Smiling a little, Kensuke chuckled at the sight before continuing to do his job...until the girl ended up stumbling by where he was working. At first she didn't think much about it, figuring it wasn't odd that they'd get another worker for the Arcade...until he finished up and got out from where he was working on one of the cabinets. She idly glanced at him, started moving...before stopping and turning back when her brain made the connection. "Eh?"

Kensuke chuckled "I was wondering when you'd notice me."

Usagi laughed sheepishly "Uh, yeah, I guess I didn't expect to see you again so soon."

"Well, since we seem to be bumping into each other a bit, why don't we pick up from this morning," he chuckled as he got up, dusting off his hands a little. "The name's Kensuke. Kensuke Inazuma."

"Usagi Tsukino." the blonde, Usagi, introduced herself as well as she shook his hand when he offered it.

Kensuke rose an eyebrow "Your parents took advantage of the family name when they had you didn't they?"

Usagi let out a dry laugh at that "Yeah, I've been teased about that one a lot." She'd honestly gotten used to the 'Rabbit on the Moon' joke by now and it was just old.

Kensuke couldn't help but chuckle at that "Well, I'm sure it built character."

"Easy for you to say," she said, puffing up her cheeks a little.

"Usagi, have you decided...huh?" came a new voice, this one belonging to her friend, who now that he could see her, had teal eyes. "Oh, are you new here?" she asked when she noticed Kensuke.

"Yep. Just started this week. I maintain the cabinets," Kensuke said, before turning to Usagi. "Your friend?" he asked.

"Ah, right, Naru, meet Kensuke Inazuma, the guy I told you about earlier. Kensuke, this is Naru Osaka, my best friend." Usagi decided to handle the introductions.

"Oh? So this is the guy you met earlier today," Naru mused, before she gained a slightly mischievous look on her face. "Wow, meeting someone who helps you out in the morning, then running into them again on the same day. Maybe your meeting is fate," she teased.

Kensuke merely rose an eyebrow at the girl, while Usagi's reaction was more… active.

"W-w-w-what are you talking about Naru? F-fate? No way! No way! I mean, I know it happens, but no way it could happen to me!" Usagi said, red faced, and gesturing all throughout it.

The result was to be expected as both of them laughed a bit at her reaction. "Relax, Usagi. That was just a joke," Naru laughed.

"You're so mean, Naru," Usagi pouted, earning more laughs from the two of them.

"Okay okay, I think we've embarrassed rabbit girl quite enough," Kensuke said between chuckles, earning another pout at the joke. "Oh don't be that way," Kensuke said with a chuckle, before giving Usagi a roll of 100 Yen coins. "Here, for the good laugh. Have some fun girls," he said before walking off to continue his job.

Usagi blinked as she looked at the roll of coins in her hand, before looking back at Kensuke and grinning a bit "Thanks a lot!" she said, before turning to Naru, who was giving her a knowing look "What?"

"Oh, nothing." Naru said with a giggle, before she and Usagi chose some games to play.

As the two girls had their fun, Kensuke glanced towards where they were, a small frown on his face...before he sighed, shrugged a little and continued with his job. He was absolutely positive Usagi wasn't what he was thinking, nor was she related to it in some way, but at the same time...he felt something was different about her. But seeing as he had no idea what...it made thinking about it a moot point. For now.

* * *

The next few days passed in a comfortable rhythm, as Kensuke would wake up, go about his day as normal, college in the morning and his part time job in the evening. Along the way he'd run into Usagi once or twice, as it seemed his path to college coincided with her path to school, as well as how she'd occasionally come to the arcade. Overall, nothing strange really, yet he had this strange feelings things weren't going to be peaceful for very long somehow.

As it so happened, he had the day off from work, so now he was walking around town after classes. Along the way, he happened to pass a jewelry shop called 'Osa-P'...and noticed the big sale sign. "Huh...convenient timing," he mused, as he had JUST been thinking about what he could get for a gift to send home. It was almost his parents' anniversary after all.

Walking in...well...it was crowded. No other way to say it. The store was almost packed to the brim with customers, all no doubt wanting to take advantage of the big sale.

"Well… perfect chance to look around." he said, before looking down as he noticed… Usagi and Naru crawling out from within the crowd "Uh, what are you girls doing here?"

Usagi blinked as she looked up at him "Oh, hey Kensuke, Naru just brought me over because her mom has a sale going on, and she was actually going to give me a huge discount, this big 500,000 Yen ring got bumped down to 30,000. And I have some hidden savings that I was thinking of splurging on it."

"Aren't those savings for food though?" Naru asked her friend with a raised eyebrow as they got up.

"Naru… we're talking about a diamond here." Usagi said, as if that answered everything.

"Well…" Kensuke looked at what was starting to feel more like a swarm of piranha. "Something tells me the diamond isn't going to be around for long…" he sweatdropped.

"Yeah...you're probably right," Usagi sighed in disappointment. "So...why are you here?"

"Honestly...same reason as you two. I was hoping to buy a present for my parents since their anniversary is coming up." he said with a shrug.

"Oh, maybe I could help you then, I help mom out sometimes while she's working so I could probably suggest something good." Naru said with a smile.

"I'd appreciate it." Kensuke said with a grateful nod.

"While you two do that, I'm gonna head home." Usagi said before sighing "I just got my english exam back, and it's horrible, I think I'll ask mom to help me study for once."

"Right...probably a good idea," Kensuke sweatdropped as Usagi soon left. However, just as the door was about to close...

"30 percent? That's terrible," came a familiar voice, which he recognized as belonging to Mamoru, and true enough, the man was standing outside the shop...holding a paper that had previously been crumpled up. "You should study harder next time, dumpling head."

Kensuke just looked at his friend dryly while Usagi snatched her test back and ranted at him. "Ok… that felt out of character for him, he's never that much of a jerk… I'm gonna have some words with him about this when I get home." he said with a sigh.

"You know that guy?" Naru asked as she watched Usagi stomp away from the other boy, who was honestly dressed fancy for no reason at this hour of the day.

"Yeah, he's my neighbour in the apartment I live in." Kensuke told her simply.

* * *

Usagi sighed as she reached her house.

She looked up at the home a bit nervously "I hope mom's in a good enough mood today." she muttered, knowing there were days when her mother had a short fuse because of one reason or another.

With resignation, she opened the door, and stopped when she saw her mother vacuuming the entry hall. "I'm home," she sighed.

"Welcome home," Ikuko Tsukino said with a smile. "You're home later than usual," she added.

Usagi laughed sheepishly "Yeah… Naru brought me to her family store since there's this huge sale going on so I browsed a bit… almost got a super discount even from her mom."

Ikuko smiled a bit "Well, I guess I can't blame you if you were with your friend. Now then, I met one of your schoolmates while grocery shopping earlier, he said you got your english exams back."

Usagi got a dry look at that, already knowing who blabbed "Umino… I'm going to deck him one day." she muttered while fishing out her exam from her bag with a sigh "Before I give it to you mom… I'm officially admitting I probably can't do this myself."

Ikuko frowned at that, accepting the exam from her daughter… and sighed when she saw the score, before pulling said girl into a hug "Alright." she said simply, kissing the top of Usagi's head "Why don't you head up to your room and try to start studying? I'll bring you dinner and come help you out soon enough."

"Right," Usagi nodded slowly with a sigh before going to the stairs, though before she got far, the door was opened again, as her little brother, Shingo, soon came in as well.

"I'm home… and my friend is officially an idiot." the boy said with a sigh as he took off his shoes.

"Why is that?" Ikuko asked, knowing he had stopped by his friend's house before coming home.

"The thing he wanted to show me? It ended up being… really stupid… and perverted." Shingo said with a blush.

"Ok, what kind of pervert is he?" Usagi chimed in dryly.

Shingo facepalmed "He stole his sister's panties."

Both Ikuko and Usagi had dry looks at that, turning to each other with the same thought going through their heads 'What a little pervert.'

"I'm going to call his mother." Ikuko said with a sigh after a moment, walking to go pick up the phone.

"He's probably going to be mad at you." Usagi told her brother simply.

"Honestly? I don't care, he brought this on himself. I mean, I get that his sister is pretty, but that's pretty low." Shingo sighed as he walked up the stairs with her.

"Yeah, I'd probably deck you if you tried that." Usagi said.

"I'd deck myself." Shingo shot back dryly, making Usagi snort in amusement "Anyway, how was your day?"

"Almost late, but mom used the frying pan and ladle to wake me up just in time, so the teacher just told me to try to get there earlier rather than right on the bell." Usagi said, some relief evident in her voice.

"Well, at least that's a decent start." Shingo commented.

"Yeah… but then it went downhill when I got my english exam back." she said with a depressed sigh.

"Oh boy… how bad?" her little brother asked with a wince.

"30 Percent," Usagi sighed. "I've decided it's time to ask for help. I know when to stop doing something that's not working…"

Shingo sighed at that, before patting his older sister on the back "Hope you pull through sis."

"That makes two of us," Usagi sighed, but gave him a grateful smile at the support before going to her room. Once she was in there, she took out her homework and laid it out. She was feeling a bit tired, but with how things were, it would be better to finish up her homework first. With that in mind, she got to work...but soon found herself getting distracted...again. "Gah!" she eventually shouted in frustration, pushing her book aside, before resting her head on her arms which she'd folded over the table. "ADHD sucks…" she groaned. She'd never claim she was the most studious person in her school, but she'd usually been able to get at least decent grades. But ever since she started Junior High...well...it started as simply difficulties paying attention...then she was failing tests despite studying...and sometimes she even found herself eating even when she shouldn't be or even crying at almost the smallest things that upset her.

It was at that point her family had realized something wasn't right, and had taken her to see a doctor. The doctors gave her a check up and soon told what they'd found. She'd been diagnosed with ADHD, explaining her sudden change in behavior and difficulties in school. She'd tried to study by herself, try to focus through her condition...but so far it wasn't working, so with that in mind, it was time to throw in the towel, and accept some help. As if on cue…

"Alright, I'm here." her mother said as she walked in, balancing a tray on one hand as she opened the door, bringing in some food and tea "Shingo's friend was quick to deal with, I just had to tell his mother what he did." she said as she sat down next to her daughter, placing the tray on an empty spot on the table. "Now, how are things going so far?"

Usagi groaned as her head was still on her arms "I can't focus."

"Well, we'll just have to work on that step by step," Ikuko smiled a little before looking at the work so far. It wasn't bad. She'd gotten the basic ideas down, but she had stopped midway. If nothing else, Usagi was already on the right track. With that in mind, she started helping her daughter to maintain focus, and helped her where she could.

The study session however was interrupted when they both heard the sound of the window creaking open, catching their attention. "Huh...did I leave the window unlatched?" Usagi blinked as they both turned to the window...and saw a black cat had gotten into the room. A black cat with a crescent shaped mark on its forehead.

"A cat?" Ikuko blinked, while Usagi pointed at it in surprise.

"Hey! I remember you! You're the cat with the crescent shaped bald spot I met this morning!" she said in surprise, honestly not expecting to see the cat again.

The cat somehow managed to look offended at the words 'bald spot', before jumping onto Usagi's bed, and then down onto the floor, going up to the girl and nudging her.

Usagi… wasn't really sure what to do, as evidenced as she looked to her mom for assistance.

Ikuko looked at her daughter, before looking at the cat with a hum "Well… it seems nice enough." she mused, reaching over and gently picking up the cat, which only blinked at her as she did so. "Ah, correction, SHE seems nice enough." Ikuko said simply, before the cat suddenly got out of her hands, and curled up in Usagi's lap. "And she seems to like you," she added with a small giggle at how cute the cat looked in her daughter's lap.

Usagi smiled a bit and pet the cat softly, and now that she could get a closer look, it seemed the crescent shape was more of a birthmark as it was made of fur rather than it be her skin, though she did giggle as the cat started purring in content, before she looked to her mother "So…?" she trailed off, knowing her question was obvious.

"If you promise you can both take care of her and study at the same time." Ikuko said simply.

"I'll need help with the second one, but I can do the first one easy." Usagi said with a grin.

Ikuko giggled at that "Alright then, let's finish your homework first, then you can think of a name for her."

"Hm…" Usagi mused, before looking at the crescent. "Luna," she said with a smile.

"It's the birthmark isn't it?" Ikuko laughed a bit, as she'd been thinking the same thing too after seeing the crescent shaped mark. It just fit really.

Apparently, Luna herself liked it as well, since she licked Usagi's hand with a happy meow.

"I'll talk with your father to make sure it won't be a problem when he gets back. In the meantime, why don't we get her some milk," Ikuko suggested.

"Okay," Usagi smiled.

* * *

A few hours later had Usagi back in her room, dinner over and ready for bed, while she at least finished up her homework. The last thing she wanted was to have issues tomorrow simply because she didn't finish it.

"So glad I'm done with that." she said with a sigh as she sat on her bed, Luna jumping into her lap.

Thankfully, her dad was fine with her having a cat, and seeing as Luna was so well behaved, adopting her was not an issue. Of course, they still needed to bring her to the vet for her shots...but she figured the cat didn't need to know that.

"Guess I might as well go to bed early. Don't want to nearly oversleep again…" she sighed, seeing as everyone else in the house would be getting ready for bed soon right about now. However…

"You might want to hold off on that. I've been waiting till we wouldn't be interrupted," came a new voice, causing her to blink, looking around for whoever said that. "Down here."

At that, she slowly turned her head down, and lo and behold...the voice was coming from Luna.

Usagi looked at Luna, who looked back at her, the cat opening her mouth again "You aren't dreaming." she said, pre-empting the obvious first question "Nor did you go crazy."

Usagi blinked several times "So… are you a mutant then?"

Luna looked at her dryly "A Magic Cat would be a better way of putting it."

"Oh… ok then… magic…" Usagi trailed off, not sure how to respond to that, and instead went and pinched her hand. It hurt. "...okay, so I'm not dreaming…though somehow I wish I were…"

Luna coughed into her paw as if clearing her throat, and sat down, her expression becoming more serious. "Though you've already given me the right name, I'll re-introduce myself. My name is Luna, and I've been looking for you, Usagi," she said, before she remembered something and added, "Oh, but before that, I should thank you for earlier. You really helped me out when you removed the band aid. I can't talk and my sensory abilities are severely weakened when this mark is covered up like that, so thank you very much. But, if nothing else, I managed to find you in the process."

"About that…" Usagi sighed. "Why me? I'm just a regular girl. Why would a magical talking cat be looking for me?"

"Well, it's not that simple. I suppose it'd be easier if I just showed you," Luna sighed, before backflipping in the air, a path of glittering dust following her, before it rolled upon itself and a brooch formed out of thin air, which fell onto the bed. "Here, it's for you," she said.

Usagi picked up the golden item, it had a crescent moon shape on it beneath a large pink jewel, and set at the edge in each cardinal point of it were four smaller gems, in red, yellow, blue and green going clockwise.

"So… besides being really neat… what is this?" Usagi asked after inspecting it.

"Well… short answer, it's a transformation item, it'll turn you into what you call a superhero." Luna said, deciding to give her the short version rather than the long, which would be better given during the day… hopefully when Usagi didn't have school.

"...okay?" Usagi blinked, not exactly sure if she fully understood. "I'm still not sure you have the right girl…"

"Well then, why don't we test that," Luna chuckled. "Put it on and say 'Moon Prism Power, Make up!'. If I HAVE gotten the wrong girl, nothing will happen."

"Ok… should I change into my school uniform then? I think mom will notice if I pinned something to my pajamas." Usagi asked with a raised eyebrow.

Luna looked a bit sheepish "Ah, right, well, I suppose you don't NEED to have it on your clothes for the first usage."

"Well..okay then," Usagi nodded, lifting up the brooch. "Moon Prism Power, Make Up!" she called out. When she did, the brooch started to shine brightly, before her body started to be covered in sparkles as ribbons started to spread from the brooch, and when the light died down shortly after, she was dressed in a completely different outfit from before.

It looked very much like a school uniform, although it was a bit more stylized, with two big red bows attached to it, one on her chest and one on her lower back, wearing long red boots that went up to her knees and gloves that covered her forearms. The skirt of the outfit was a navy blue color, and she wore a red choker around her neck with a crescent moon on it, which she also had hanging off her new earrings… and printed on her boots. Finally, she was wearing a tiara around her forehead with a red gem in it, and two more red gems were attached to her twin hair buns, while she had feather shaped hairclips attached in her hair..

"Woah! This is… different." Usagi said after a moment of looking herself over, even looking in the mirror, before she blushed as she noticed the skirt "A bit short though."

"Ah, well, that can be adjusted, it's pretty much a magic outfit after all, just tug it down a bit." Luna said, and Usagi did so, the skirt actually gaining a bit more length, making her sigh in relief.

"Okay...so I'm definitely the girl you're looking for...can't deny that anymore…" she admitted. "What now?" at this point, the cat was literally the only one with anything resembling answers to her mountain of questions.

"Well, now-" Luna cut herself off as one of her ears perked up, and Usagi would have questioned her, until one of the crystals on her buns started blinking and she heard a familiar voice.

"Somebody… help us!" Naru could be heard pleading for help.

"That… that was Naru!" Usagi said in panic.

"In that case, I'll explain more later, your friend needs help." Luna said seriously as she nudged the window back open and jumped onto the next roof and turned to look at Usagi "Follow me, Sailor Moon!"

Usagi blinked at how she was being addressed "Sailor Moon huh?" she said, before smirking slightly "I like it." she said, before taking a deep breath and jumping after Luna, finding it now came to her with ease, as the two moved quickly, the moon rising high into the sky.

* * *

Kensuke groaned from his spot on the ground, his body weak as heck. He'd taken his time browsing through the store's selection...and really whatever wasn't snapped up by the sale piranhas that were swarming the store. However, that was when he suddenly felt faint while he had been holding on to a pair of earrings he had a feeling his parents would like (they had an odd little thing about occasionally wearing jewelry that came in two pieces, one piece for each of them).

Naru had tried to ask her mother what was going on, as by then several of the customers had fallen to the ground, but when she did...well...that was when Kensuke's instincts flared up when he saw the woman's face. It still LOOKED like her, but it wasn't. That was why when she suddenly lunged for the scared girl, he'd pushed her out of the way, managing to grab hold of whatever this was's arm. "You...what are you? Are you one of the Royals?" he had growled.

"I don't know what you're talking about, but you're in the way," the creature growled, before roughly throwing him aside, causing him to hit a pillar and crumple to the ground.

Naru let out a terrified scream, before she suddenly felt the creature's hands around her neck, choking her. "Mom...why…?" she gasped.

"Stupid girl, I'm not your mother!" the creature laughed cruelly. "She's currently locked up in the basement!" at that, the creature posing as her mother began to change, revealing its true form, her skin beginning to shrivel up, while her hair turned a dark shade of brown and her eyes turned black. When it was over, what stood before her was a hideous creature that looked almost like a moving corpse of a woman, dressed in a dark colored dress, with a scar on its forehead. "And after I've killed you, I'll be sure to send her after you," the creature laughed as she started tightening her grip on the girl's throat.

"Get away from Naru!" came a new voice, drawing the creature's attention...to which she turned her head 180 degrees to see who it was, as the voice was coming from the door.

"Okay, that's just disturbing," Kensuke couldn't help but say as he'd shakily gotten to his legs and looked to the source of the voice too. What he saw...made him stop short. "...really?"

Standing at the wide open doors to the shop was… Usagi, but dressed in a really different outfit, though for some reason her face seemed blurry for a second before it became normal.

"Who are you supposed to be?" the creature growled, still holding Naru in her grip.

Usagi blinked for a moment, before she got a little grin on her face "I'm the pretty sailor soldier of love and justice, Sailor Moon!" she said, before striking a pose and pointing at the creature "In the name of the moon, I will punish you!"

"Sailor Moon?" both Kensuke and the creature questioned, before the monster let go of Naru, the girl falling to the floor unconscious.

"Never heard of such a thing!" the monster said, turning to properly face her. "Awaken! My slaves that gave their energy to my great ruler!" she called out, and the various women who had fallen unconscious save for Naru suddenly got up, their eyes glowing with a very obvious controlled look.

"Okay, this feels a little too much like those horror movies," Sailor Moon gulped as the women approached, and she was soon forced to dodge as a rather...big boned...woman attempted to body slam her, followed by pretty much the entire crowd trying to get a piece of her to which she dodged frantically. One particular close call was when she had to scramble to her feet and jump away when one of them came at her with a broken bottle, causing her to slam into a pillar in the process. "This is crazy!" she shouted frantically. Even with this getup in the end she was still just a normal junior high student. The worst she was supposed to be worrying about was her next test or finding a boyfriend, NOT fighting a horror movie monster!

"Sailor Moon, you have to fight and defeat that Youma!" Luna whisper shouted to her from the pillar she was hiding behind.

"But I don't know how to fight! I just wanted to help Naru!" She hissed back at the cat in a panicked tone.

At that point, one of the women came at her with a pipe that came from...somewhere. Sailor Moon shouted in alarm, closing her eyes on reflex, before a loud clang was heard rather than the feeling of metal impacting her skull. When she opened her eyes…

"What are you doing?! Don't sit around when someone is coming at you with a metal pipe!" Kensuke shouted. Okay, maybe he was being a little harsh, but considering the situation, he felt it was warranted. It was good luck he found a piece of display that had broken and didn't have any glass or anything on it to use as a makeshift weapon, which was currently blocking the pipe that had intended to cave in the girl's head.

Usagi looked at him in surprise "Kensuke…" she whispered in a bit of awe as she blushed lightly, honestly finding him cool right now.

Unfortunately the moment was ruined when the woman holding the pipe began repeatedly bashing on his makeshift weapon, and with the others trying to dogpile, he did his best to fend them off without causing lasting damage...but it wasn't long before his makeshift weapon snapped under the pressure. "Dammit, this is bad!" he growled as he moved back. "If this keeps up…" he growled under his breath before reaching into his pocket, and started to pull something out, just as the Youma extended her arm to finish them off. Or he would have if something hadn't caught the Youma's attention, something suddenly flying through the air, and embedded into her arm, causing her to shout in pain as she was forced to retract the limb...which felt numb suddenly. "Who's there?!" she shouted as she turned to see the source of the object which turned out to be a red rose.

Standing in an open window was a man wearing a tuxedo, with a cape hanging off his shoulders, a top hat, and a white mask covering his eyes "My name is Tuxedo Kamen, not that it should matter to you, Youma." he said, before turning his head to Sailor Moon and Kensuke "Sailor Moon, you have to fight, do you really want to simply hide behind your friend while doing nothing?"

THAT got to her. She realized that Tuxedo Kamen was right. If she didn't do something, all she'd be doing was hide behind Kensuke. However, at the same time if the Youma kept controlling all these innocents, no way they would… that's when an idea hit her. If the Youma was controlling them, then odds are she needed focus to maintain the control, so if she were to lose focus… "Kensuke, sorry!" she said, putting her hands together in apology, much to his confusion...before he was promptly used as a springboard, allowing Sailor Moon to leap across the room...and slammed her heeled foot into the Youma's face, earning a screech of pain from the Youma who was clutching her face both from the impact...and the fact that those were high heel boots.

Like puppets with their strings cut, the women all crumpled to the ground, the Youma's control now gone. "Alright, all that's left is the boss," Kensuke said...albeit rubbing his back a little. Good plan or not that hurt.

"At least that worked." Luna said as she came out from the pillar, making Kensuke blink owlishly at the talking cat "Sailor Moon! Use your tiara to finish her off!"

Sailor Moon nodded, albeit a tiny bit confused "Alright!" she said, before grasping the tiara on her forehead and pulling it off, being surprised when it started glowing and took on a more boomerang shape "Ok, that's cool." she said, smiling a bit, before humming and snapping her fingers "I got the perfect name." she said, before pulling her arm back to throw it "Moon Tiara… Action!" she shouted as she flung the tiara towards the Youma, who finally recovered from the kick, but right at the last second, as it could only scream in pain as it was caught by the attack, which released a powerful light as it connected, and when it returned to Sailor Moon's head (which rattled the blonde girl a bit) the Youma disintegrated into dust.

"Well...that's that I guess," Kensuke sighed, glad that the monster was gone. Had the monster been stronger or had they been in a tighter spot, he'd have had to use 'it'. With that in mind… "So… What's with the outfit anyway Usagi?"

The blonde girl turned back to her friend, laughing sheepishly at that, before her attention was drawn up to the window, where Tuxedo Kamen still stood, smiling and giving a nod of approval "That was well done for your first battle Sailor Moon, I hope to see you become even stronger." he said, before turning and leaping away.

"Wow… he's so cool." Sailor Moon said in awe, blushing yet again.

Kensuke chuckled at that, not surprised at her acting that way.

"I'm surprised." Luna said, drawing the attention of the two "No normal human should be able to recognise her when she's changed into Sailor Moon, the transformation grants her a minor glamour to hide her face, so why can you?" she said, giving Kensuke a suspicious look.

Kensuke glanced away nervously "Ah, well, about that…" he trailed off, before his eyes snapped wide as he felt a burning sensation on his chest, pulling out a necklace from his shirt which had a pendant shaped like a spade… and it was glowing "We have a problem."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Luna asked suspiciously. She soon got her answer, when the door to the shop promptly shattered when a new figure entered, dragging a blade against the ground which created a grating noise.

It was humanoid in shape, but with a reptilian appearance with dark blue scales all over its body, wearing silver armor that made it look like a typical street punk, a long sword attached to its right arm that was dragging on the floor, a shorter one attached to its left arm, and yet a third blade attached to the tip of its tale.

The monster growled, and Sailor Moon flinched as its eyes scanned over the store… before they landed on Kensuke, and it growled "Ace…"

"So you can tell the difference after all, Category 2. Lizard Undead." Kensuke said seriously as he finally pulled out what he was going for earlier, grabbing a large buckle with a slot in the front big enough for a card to slide in.

"Kensuke… what is that?" Sailor Moon asked in worry, especially since he called it Undead, the only thing coming to her mind being that this thing was some sort of zombie.

"Not something you should have learned about...but no choice now. Please try to keep your distance at least. Things are about to get messy," he said, before pulling out...a playing card?

"Huh?" Luna and Sailor Moon said almost blankly as they looked at the card...though it wasn't like any playing card they'd ever seen. It had the 'Ace' and 'Spade' symbol on the top left, but the main body depicted a beetle with a red spade on it, and the words 'Change Beetle' written under it, right before Kensuke slotted it into the slot of the buckle, causing a line of cards to be ejected from the other end of the belt, which he let go of as it soon wrapped around his waist, the cards turning into a red belt as an almost pulsing sound filled the room.

Kensuke glared at the Undead before him before calling out, "Henshin!" and pulling the handle on the side of the belt. " **Turn Up!** " the belt called up as the front section flipped, revealing a spade symbol, followed by an energy field ejecting, hitting the Undead head on as it was thrown back from the energy, before the screen of sorts suddenly remained in the air.

Kensuke bent down slightly, before running towards the screen, jumping right before he passed through it as it seemed to wrap around him while glowing, following him as he kicked the Undead out of the shop when it got back it's bearings from the field colliding with it, and when he landed on his feet, he was changed, much more radically than Usagi though, as he was covered head to toe in armor, with a sword hanging at his hip.

"Wait… I think I saw something like that in the news." Sailor Moon muttered with narrowed eyes, before they snapped back open "Ah! That armor! I saw it on TV the other night! Someone took a picture of it on a bike riding into the city!"

Kensuke turned his head slightly to glance at her "I see, then someone must have seen me after I came back from defeating the Deer Undead. You see this armor is special, since it has a name. Much like how you seem to be calling yourself Sailor Moon in that outfit, my own name changes when in this suit."

"And what would that name be?" Luna asked, thrown for a loop at everything that was going on.

For some reason, they got the impression he smirking under his helmet as he turned back to the Undead "Kamen Rider… Blade!"

The Lizard Undead had quickly recovered, and was now charging forward, only for its blade to be parried when Blade pulled out his sword, blocking the attack. The blade lock lasted for a few moments before Blade broke it and kicked the Undead in the gut, pushing it back. "You two stay back. Help if you want, but be careful! You do NOT want to get hit by its sword!" he said, before charging forward, catching the Undead off guard, and soon pushed it out of the store through the broken door. He couldn't afford to fight it here when there were so many people.

"Now that we're out here, come on!" Blade challenged, a challenge the Lizard Undead was all too happy to meet as the two lunged forward and began a deadly duel of swords. Blade fought in a way that showed someone who'd had extensive training in the art of the blade, keeping the Undead on the defensive with several rapid slashes, while also mixing in a few stabs and maneuvers meant to throw an opponent off balance. However, the Undead was matching it with brute strength and raw animalistic rage as they were forced into a sort of stalemate. However, so far Blade seemed to have the advantage, as while the Undead was taking hits, he knew to block and evade where needed...not that it was helping TOO much since he knew he literally couldn't put down this opponent. Not to mention, he may have trained for this, but he was still human. He'd get tired, while his opponent would be able to go on for much MUCH longer than he could.

"Better not draw this out," Blade muttered. No choice, he had to use the Rouze Cards he already had on hand. But he also had to make them count since he couldn't use them too freely, so with that in mind, he needed to find an opening. However, there was a slight problem as he landed a strong slash, pushing the Undead back, only for it to be back for more. This Undead, being suited for short ranged combat, was more heavily armored than the other Undead he'd sealed. He had an idea how to finish this, but with the Undead constantly coming back...it would be a slightly problematic thing.

"He doesn't look to be having an easy time." Luna said, not really having any way to help him on her mind, especially if what he was saying was right and that thing would likely kill anything that got close.

"Oh, boy, ok, I need an idea." Sailor Moon muttered, looking around for anything that might help her friend with that monster, before remembering she had a long range option attached to her head, "Oh right, duh." she said as she took it off and watched it turn into the boomerang again, and she knew an attack from this might not hurt that monster all that much… but maybe SEVERAL might distract it.

The street was narrow enough, and there were a few street lamps and other things around that would help.

Right, she could do this.

Winding her arm up, she took aim, closing one of her eyes just to make sure she was looking at the right spot, and nodded to herself "Moon Tiara Action… Ricochet!" and the weapon was let loose. At first it seemed like it was shot way off...before it hit a street lamp and rebounded, catching the Undead on the knee, and then rebounded again and hit it again and soon repeated the process a few times, completely distracting the Undead as it tried to swat at the annoying projectile...and leaving itself open to Blade.

"Thank you, Usagi," Blade couldn't help but chuckle as he quickly drew out the cards inside his sword, the 2 of Spades glowing blue as it sensed the Undead it was intended to seal. However, he ignored it for now, going for the 5 and 6 of Spades, before scanning them both in quick succession. " **Kick! Thunder!** " his weapon called out as both cards soon became holographic images of the card artwork and floated around before him as his face armor glowed red as the energy built up and he planted his sword into the ground, the images absorbing into his right foot. "Lightning...Blast!" he called out as he jumped up, flipped forward, and was soon propelled forward due to the power of his the Kick card, a spade symbol glowing brightly on the bottom of his foot as electricity covered his foot, the attack plowed into the Undead's chest, electricity running through its body, before finally it was blasted backwards, rolling on the ground before exploding into a ball of fire.

Blade backflipped into the air, landing right next to his sword which he pulled out of the ground and unfolded in preparation.

"Yeah, it's dead now!" Sailor Moon cheered as she caught the tiara in the air this time when it came back to her.

"No, it's not." was all Blade said.

"What do you mean? You've clearly defeated it." Luna asked as she came up and looked at the dissipating flames.

"Defeated yes, but remember what I called it?" Blade asked them as Sailor Moon came up and looked over his shoulder.

"You called it… Undead." she said in realisation as the flames died down enough that they could see it was down on the ground, and STILL breathing.

"But that's impossible!" Luna gasped in alarm at the sight of the creature having survived that attack. However, a clicking sound caught their attention as they saw the belt on the creature's waist, an Ouroboros with 'UD' in the center, having now cracked open, splitting the snakes and the two letters, revealing a blue number '2' in the center with a spade symbol on the top and on the bottom. "That belt…" Luna frowned. Something was telling her that was significant.

"You can't kill the Undead. They're immortal," Blade said simply, before drawing the Proper Blank for the Category 2. "You can only...seal them away," he said before tossing the card, which embedded into the Undead's body and soon sucked it in, before flying back to Blade's hand, where he caught the card, now depicting a lizard with a notably sword-like tail. Slash Lizard was now properly sealed.

"So, unkillable monsters that can only be locked away… that's kind of scary." Sailor Moon admitted.

"Yeah… but it needs to be taken care of, or else people could be hurt." Blade said with a nod, before turning to her, and she got the impression he was smiling "Still, thanks for the assist… Sailor Moon." he said in amusement as he held up a fist towards her.

She looked at it for a moment, before grinning and bumping her own fist against it "Right back at you Blade."

* * *

 **And there's the chapter!**

 **So, yeah, first off, Usagi has ADHD.**

 **We thought that would be the best way to explain her strange way of acting, and it actually helps her in a way, since her family and friends are more supportive, despite how much of a stigma japan has against mental illnesses.**

 **Also, the backstory of Kensuke, don't worry, we'll give it in the next chapter.**

 **As for who Kelch is... symbolism guys, come on, it's obvious.**

 **And yeah, everyone is in the intro from the start, including the mystery identities of Garren and Leangle.**

 **Anyway, see you all next time!**


	2. Card 2

**And next chapter!**

 **Letting you all know right now, don't expect an Undead fight with every chapter, or else we'd run out before we hit R.**

 **With that out of the way, next chapter!**

* * *

Usagi let out a light yawn as she sat down in her seat in class, her teacher would be here in a few minutes, and both Luna and her mother had made sure she was awake on time.

Still though, she hoped late nights like that wouldn't become TOO regular for her, she needed her beauty sleep after all if she wanted to become a stunning beauty one day for her husband to be… whoever he would be.

"Good morning Usagi." Naru said as she turned around to look at her friend with a smile.

"Morning Naru." Usagi said with a smile, glad to see her friend was ok after last night "So, how did helping Kensuke with a present for his parents go?"

"About that, it's a bit weird, but, well… I don't think you'll believe me." Naru said nervously.

"You'd be surprised by what I can believe these days." Usagi said dryly.

"Well… some kind of monster attacked, it was pretending to be my mom, Kensuke tried to protect me, but the monster just tossed him aside, then, when I was passing out, there was this actual superhero who arrived on the scene, I didn't see what she looked like, but she said her name was Sailor Moon." Naru explained, and Usagi was VERY glad Naru didn't get a good look at her face last night. Even if there was some kind of glamour to hide her identity, Naru WAS her best friend. If she were a betting girl, she'd put her money on Naru figuring out her identity if she kept seeing Sailor Moon enough times.

"No way, I actually had a dream about that!" One of their female classmates said, sliding her chair closer.

"So did I!" Another one added.

"Then it probably wasn't a dream, it actually happened. I mean, I DID find my mother tied up in the basement this morning after all." Naru added.

"So, what happened after that? Did you wake up with everything over?" Usagi asked, honestly curious.

Naru, to her surprise, shook her head "No, I actually woke up a little bit later, that monster pretending to be my mom was gone, but there was a new one that looked like a lizard with this HUGE sword on its arm. And then ANOTHER superhero showed up to kick it out of the store, a man, and he called himself Kamen Rider Blade, I think he was friends with Sailor Moon because of how they acted with each other. Since she even helped him fight that monster."

"That so?" Usagi sweat dropped. It seemed she wasn't the only one to get some coverage. "They must have worked together well to beat the monster," she said. Personally while she DID help, that wasn't quite what she'd call teamwork just yet. All she did was distract the Undead.

"They sure did. Sailor Moon managed to stop the monster's movement before Kamen Rider Blade finished it off with this electric kick. I didn't see what happened after they beat the monster though," Naru admitted. "I kinda...ran away…"

"Considering what your evening sounds like, I don't blame you." Usagi admitted, if she had been in Naru's shoes, she'd likely have run away as well. Speaking of shoes...she idly looked at the clock. It was just the start of the day, but already she couldn't wait for it to be over. After the fight with the Undead last night, and seeing as the sound had attracted the police, Kensuke had told them they could talk more another time, and not so subtly commented how he works at the Arcade from Monday to Friday. The message was obvious that he wanted them to see him while he was working. After what happened last night, she honestly didn't think she could pay attention in school with both that on her mind AND her ADHD.

* * *

Usagi...wasn't feeling too great, since school had passed...and she was sure she barely paid attention to at least half of what they covered today. She just hoped she could borrow some notes from Naru tomorrow or something to make up for it. Heck, if she had to she was willing to ask Umino for help. But that was something for future Usagi to worry about. For now, she had more important things to worry about.

"Rough day in school?" came Luna's voice as she was passing the school gate, the cat jumping off the wall she had been on and was now on her shoulder.

"Hard to concentrate after what happened last night…" Usagi sighed tiredly, before idly noticing Luna didn't look too hot herself...that and she was wearing a new collar. "Rough day at the vet?" she asked rhetorically. It was one thing to know Luna needed to get her shots before they could properly adopt her when she thought she was a normal cat, it was another knowing she went through it when she's able to talk and act like a human.

"You could say that," Luna winced, idly pawing at her collar. She knew this was necessary if she was going to be the pet cat of the Tsukino household, but it was still something to get used to. "Anyway, we should go to the Arcade. We still need to talk to that man… Kensuke was it?" she checked. She hadn't QUITE memorized him just yet.

"Yeah, that's him," Usagi nodded.

"Right. At the same time I still need to tell you of your mission. I never got to tell you about it last night," Luna nodded.

"Right, and you're going to tell it to Kensuke too, yeah?" Usagi asked.

Luna nodded "Yes, considering he's your friend, and can see through your glamour, I was hoping he might be able to give us assistance with the mission, maybe his unique abilities could prove useful."

"Well, he definitely was cool. He didn't even look afraid when he was fighting the Youma and the Undead," Usagi smiled, a small blush on her face at the memory. "Alright, let's go!" she said as she soon started running to the arcade.

At the pace she was going, it wasn't long before she reached the Crown Arcade, right as Kensuke was carrying a few trash bags. Usagi just BARELY stopped in time to avoid running into him, her legs even giving off a comical 'brake screech' at the close call.

"Whoa there Usagi, where's the fire?" Kensuke sweat dropped at the near collision.

Usagi laughed sheepishly at that "Sorry, I just wanted to be sure I didn't miss you or anything."

"Well, you're in luck, today was one of my short days, morning classes included." Kensuke told her as he stowed away the trash bags in the container.

"You know, speaking of your morning classes, what are you studying to be?" Usagi couldn't help but ask.

"Well… it's not the most concrete thing, but I'm in finance and business, I hope to maybe run a shop one day, not sure what it could be yet, but you can't run a business without financial knowledge right?" He said with a shrug.

Usagi thought about it a little "Yeah, that makes sense. So, basically, you're good with numbers, right?"

"Among many things." Kensuke said with a laugh. "What about you though? Got any idea what you want to be one day?"

Usagi blushed a bit "Well… it may be weird, but I wouldn't mind being in the role of a stay at home housewife. But if I NEED a job… maybe something that works directly with people, or maybe even with kids."

"I think you'd do well with that," Kensuke said with a smile. "Especially the last one. I'm sure kids will love you," he grinned. "Anyway, I can tell you're here for more than just the Sailor V game, right? I know I said to meet me here, but I can't exactly talk to you about 'that' right now, and an arcade isn't really the best place to hold an important conversation."

"Then where would you like to discuss?" Luna asked.

"There are a few cafes nearby. Pick one and tell me which. I'll be working for an hour or so more, so I'll meet you there," he said, before adding, "Order what you'd like. My treat." he could safely say that since to his knowledge, the cafes around here weren't too pricey.

Usagi blinked "Well… if you say so." she said, before going to look for a cafe with a grin, and she was TOTALLY going to take him up on his offer.

* * *

"Lesson learned. Never give you free reign when desserts are involved," Kensuke deadpanned as he saw the rather...sizeable...number of desserts Usagi had ordered from the cafe. She'd picked a reasonably priced one yeah...but how she ordered was decidedly NOT reasonable.

"Sorry, but the cakes are just sooo good!" Usagi said sheepishly.

"Are you at least going to share all of this?" he asked hopefully, eyeing the chocolate cake slice hungrily, if he was giving up his daily melon bread, it would at least be for something good.

"Hmm? Oh, yeah, sure, help yourself." Usagi said, not minding at all, no way she could reasonably eat all of this herself after all. "Sorry again about the bill. I really can't help myself," she said, before adding in a more subdued tone. "Literally at that…"

"Huh?" Kensuke blinked, prompting her to elaborate.

"I have ADHD…" Usagi admitted, tapping her fingers together.

"Ah…" Kensuke nodded in understanding. That explained a lot.

"The barrier is set up now by the way." Luna said as she jumped onto a free chair.

"Barrier?" the two humans repeated in confusion while Kensuke grabbed some of the treats Usagi had ordered for himself.

"Well, I figured that we're in the open, then we'd want the utmost privacy for this, so I may have went and stolen some chalk and set up something around the table." Luna admitted.

The other two looked down at that, barely seeing the chalk on the white stone pavement of the cafe they were at, since they were sitting at an outdoor table.

"Huh, magic talking spellcasting cat. Cool," Kensuke blinked, before getting serious. "Okay, so who goes first? You guys or me?"

"I'll go first, Usagi needs to hear this as much as you do anyway." Luna said, before clearing her throat "My mission was to find the Sailor Scouts, the guardians of a princess, one from a long lost kingdom, and in turn, we then need to find said princess and protect her from the Dark Kingdom, who no doubt want to use her for the power she holds. The Dark Kingdom are the ones who sent that Youma to Osa-P last night, and very likely this was not a singular attack, there are sure to be more in the future until we can secure the princess and defeat the Dark Kingdom."

"So, I'm one of those Sailor Scouts then huh?" Usagi mused.

"Correct, and we need to find the others as soon as we can. Only when everyone is gathered can the princess be found and protected." Luna said seriously, and Usagi nodded in understanding.

She could tell it was going to be difficult, but if this was something only she could do, she would do it.

"And, honestly…" Luna trailed off, turning to Kensuke "Some extra help would be appreciated, the power you showed last night, Blade you called it I believe, it would make the task of destroying the Youma and protecting the princess easier."

Kensuke nodded at that "I don't mind lending you a hand, Usagi is my friend after all. And besides, if Usagi is basically the Royal Guard of the princess, she'll need some Royal Knights as well." he said with a chuckle.

The two of them gave him a rather dry stare at the pun but they couldn't stop smiling a little either.

"Now then, since you've explained your side, it's my turn," Kensuke said, before taking out...a deck of playing cards. Usagi and Luna blinked in confusion as he began to lay the cards out. "Now then, before we begin, have you ever wondered why humanity is the dominant species of this world? We're hardly the strongest or fastest creatures, and compared to some of the things nature churns out, we're rather squishy don't you think?"

"Oh! I know this one!" Usagi said suddenly "It's because humanity is the most cunning and smart, and was able to find ways to survive and create."

Kensuke smiled "Well, that's… technically not wrong. It WAS those qualities that allowed us to become the dominant species of this world, but not quite in the way you're thinking. My story begins, if the records are accurate, about 10,000 or so years ago. Human history is a bit of a sketchy thing, but that is in fact the true starting point of history. Back when the world was still empty, there was...a competition if you will," he said, as he'd finished laying out the cards, all assembled based on their suits...though the two noticed the spades had been replaced with the cards he had used the previous night, most of the spades blank in fact, with only chains on the picture of the card. "It was a competition to decide who would rule the planet as its dominant species. We call it the Battle Royal, a rather pretty name...for a gruesome spectacle," he sighed.

"So… how many species were part of it?" Usagi asked, trying not to think about that comment on it being gruesome.

"How many cards are normally in a deck?" Kensuke shot back simply.

"52… so, 52 species, fighting to the death then?" Luna quickly caught on.

"Fortunately it wasn't THAT bad of a blood bath, but you're right. I said it before, the world was empty at the time. No, this Battle Royal was strictly conducted among the ones who would be the progenitor of the many species. The Undead," Kensuke said.

"Wait, so, does that mean the ancestor of all humans was some immortal monster then?" Usagi said with a somewhat worried frown.

"Correct, though, the Human Undead looked exactly like a human, as opposed to the others who were like humanoid animals. He won the Battle Royale by making use of his brain as opposed to just his brawn. And thus, thanks to the Category 2 of Hearts, Spirit Human, humanity flourished." Kensuke explained with a nod.

"How do you know all this?" Luna couldn't help but ask.

"Because I come from a clan that was started by that great progenitor with a single duty. To safeguard the seal of the Undead," Kensuke revealed. "Our clan is divided into 4 Tribes. One tribe safeguarding one part of the seal, and with it, 13 Undead each. In my case, the Azure Dragon Tribe safeguards the 13 Undead under the spade suit."

"Ah, so the other three tribes are the other three chinese beasts, right?" Usagi asked, having noticed how he mentioned his tribe being Azure Dragon.

Kensuke nodded "Correct, the Azure Dragon Tribe is located right here in Japan, so we are the east, the Black Tortoise Tribe safeguards the 13 Undead of the heart suit, including our progenitor who was willingly sealed shortly after he established the clan and are located in Germany."

"That's… ironic." Usagi commented dryly, and he knew why she did.

"Yeah… we had no clue THAT was going to happen honestly." Kensuke said, before clearing his throat "Anyway, next is the Crimson Pheasant Tribe, safeguarding the 13 Undead of the diamond suit in South Africa. And finally, the White Tiger Tribe, safeguarding the 13 Undead of the club suit in America."

"I see…" Luna nodded. "But...that begs the question...why are they free now? Weren't you supposed to keep them safely locked away?"

Kensuke let out a tired sigh. "I'd give you the details, but they're pretty crazy. Long story short, shit happened, and the seals were badly damaged. We've spent a very long time trying to keep the seals from failing before the Elders realized...we were fighting a lost cause. All we were doing was delaying the inevitable, and as you can see, it finally happened. We knew the Undead would get out eventually...so we thought backwards. If maintaining the seal was a lost cause...we would instead create a new seal after the old one failed," he said, before placing his belt on the table. "For that these were created. With this, we can defeat and reseal the Undead, and as you saw, make use of the powers of Undead we do seal."

"But, how can you use them in the first place?" Usagi wondered.

"Well, Spirit Human gained the respect of the four Aces during the Battle Royal, so they agreed to lend humanity their assistance should the need ever arise. As such, Change Beetle grants me his power so that I can become Kamen Rider Blade, the effect has rubbed off slightly on my human form as well, and I now have the same aura as an Undead, meaning the creatures seek me out to fight me, and I in turn can locate them thanks to my charm." he said, before taking out his necklace from his shirt "Whenever an Undead is close, it starts to heat up, warning me of an incoming threat. The effect is stronger when it's an Undead of the Spade Suit."

"So...since there are four tribes...does that mean there are four Kamen Riders?" Usagi asked, since clearly Kensuke was mainly geared towards hunting down the Spade suits.

Kensuke nodded "That's right, there's three other Riders besides me." he said, and was about to continue, before all their eyes went to the table, as the 10 of Spades started glowing green, before in a small flash, it changed. The Spade symbol changed from a Spade to a Star, the lesser known 5th suit, the number vanished, and the name of the card changed from previously 'Time Scarab' to 'Common Blank'.

"What… what just happened?" Luna questioned in confusion.

Kensuke though, blinked in shock, before smiling "THAT is the sign that at least one of the other three Riders is active, and just sealed Time Scarab himself, meaning my Proper Blank doesn't need to exist anymore, and became a simple Common Blank. The other three Riders are Garren of the Diamond Suit, Leangle of the Club Suit, and Chalice of the Heart Suit," he explained. "Still...whoever it is, I gotta ask them for some tips if they could seal THAT particular one…" he mused, knowing how the Category 10 of his set was one of, if not THE most powerful of the lower class Undead.

"That's good," Usagi smiled. "That means one of your friends are around, right?"

"Allies," Kensuke corrected. "I can't exactly call myself the friend of someone I've never even met, right?" he admitted.

Usagi blinked, before laughing sheepishly "Yeah, good point. But, I hope whoever they are they'll be your friend then."

"So do I." Kensuke said with a nod and a smile "Now then, last night was obviously your first fight ever, right?"

Usagi nodded, not ashamed to admit it "Right, if it wasn't for that Tuxedo Kamen guy giving you a morale boost, we might have been in a spot of trouble." Kensuke added after her nod "So, I'd recommend getting some training in, maybe some kickboxing could help you out a bit, and of course a simple workout routine as well."

"Well… I can probably do sit ups and push ups in my room and take some runs around the block before my baths." Usagi admitted. She wasn't TOO keen on the change to her usual routine, but that would be a small price to pay if it stopped her from floundering around like she did in her first fight.

"That's a good start, and if you want, I could give you some extra training on the weekends when I'm free." Kensuke said with a smile, before he added in a half joking tone. "Don't worry, I promise I won't put you through the intense training I went through in order to win fights of life and death against immortal monsters who want to see our kind knocked off the throne." He said that while maintaining a smile and a straight face.

"Yeah...please don't," Usagi sweat dropped, already imagining the kind of Training From Hell he must have gone through, before she suddenly got up "I'll be right back, the ladies room is calling to me."

"Trying too hard to sound fancy." he told her with a laugh as she went inside for the bathroom, when she was far enough away, he turned to Luna "So… the princess we're looking for… she wouldn't happen to be from the Silver Millenium, would she?"

Luna stiffened in shock and surprise at that. "Thought so," Kensuke nodded.

"H-How do you know about that?" Luna asked in surprise.

"We're a clan that was established back when Humanity took its first steps. We were around for its fall," Kensuke said with an amused expression, before it became serious. "That fall was also when the seals were badly damaged."

Luna frowned at that "Then it's very likely the Dark Kingdom is to blame for that, they were the ones behind everything after all."

Kensuke nodded "Yeah, according to the records, we survived because of a warning from the Prince of Earth, since he knew how important the seals were."

"So...does that mean you are from that time?" Luna asked.

At that, Kensuke actually laughed. "Sorry sorry, but your question was a real riot. We've been around but we're not immortal. No, I was born in this century, so I'm 19 physically AND chronologically. We're actually the ones that helped rebuild Earth after the fall of the kingdoms, so we've been around for a LONG time… though maybe one of my direct ancestors was present during the Silver Millennium." he finished with a chuckle.

Luna laughed sheepishly at that "I see. Then, your clan is very well informed."

"Indeed we are… we even know about Mau." Kensuke added almost as an afterthought, and Luna blinked at that.

"My home planet as well huh? It's been a long time since I've heard about it." Luna mused as she looked up at the sky.

"I get why you're keeping the details on the need to know for now. It's overwhelming enough as is. But Usagi and whoever else are the Sailor Scouts of this era will need to know the full truth eventually," Kensuke said. "But I'll trust you to decide when you think that is. Just don't take too long. They deserve to know what they're fighting for afterall."

Luna nodded slowly, agreeing with his point. "Alright," she said...right as Usagi came back.

"I'm back, did I miss anything?" she asked.

"Nothing much, was just asking Luna what's it like being a cat," Kensuke said, earning a funny look from Usagi. "What? When was the last time you got to talk to an actual talking cat?"

Luna had to fight hard not to laugh at his 'cover story' for their discussion. Yeah, she had a feeling they'd found a good ally in Kensuke.

* * *

A few days later…

"Alright… slowly getting better." Usagi muttered as she rested her head on her desk in school, currently in between periods.

Meanwhile, she didn't notice that someone was staring at her.

A boy with short brown hair and thick glasses that hid his eyes sighed as he looked at her "I wish I could go on a date with Usagi."

"Yeah, you wish." he heard a voice say, making him turn to see Naru giving him a dry look "Seriously Umino, I think Usagi's made it pretty clear that you're not her type of guy."

"No way…" Umino deflated, Naru gaining a sympathetic look at that.

"Sorry, I didn't mean it THAT bad," Naru apologized. "But I can tell you right now a head on approach isn't going to get you anywhere."

"Then think I should ask her from behind?"

Naru had a HUGE sweat drop at that comment, but maintained her composure...sorta. "N-no, what I meant was maybe you could...ask a fortune teller for advice?" she suggested.

"Then I already know what to do," Umino smiled before taking out a game. "According to this Fortune Teller game made according to my ideas, Usagi and I are supposed to get married," he said with a smile and hugging it to his chest.

Naru groaned into her hand at that, wondering why he didn't see the glaring issue in his words "If anything, she's more likely to marry Kensuke and make you kiss her fist." she muttered lowly.

"Huh?" Umino said, not having heard her clearly.

"Nothing, nothing." Naru simply waved it off, figuring it would only be mean to tell him of Usagi's latest crush that she was trying to deny... and doing a horrible job of such. "And I meant go to a REAL fortune teller," she added, wondering if maybe a fortune teller telling him how...okay, there was no nice way to say it. How lost this cause was, would finally help him to get a hint.

Meanwhile, Usagi was thinking to herself how much it sucked that Kensuke and Tuxedo Kamen weren't the same person… yeah, Umino really had no chance.

* * *

Later, Usagi was running back home, figuring she might as well get a bit extra exercise on the way home. Gotta build up her stamina if she was going to be fighting monsters. Along the way she passed an alleyway...and realized something. Normally a long line was here...but today it wasn't. "Huh? What happened to the line that used to be here?" she asked, as she looked into the alley and saw an old man running a fortune telling stand.

"I guess it's because of the new competition," the old man chuckled at her question. "It's right over there," he said, pointing across the street, revealing a rather...gaudy looking fortune telling house.

"...kinda gaudy if you ask me," Usagi frowned. "Do they use the same kind of fortune telling as you do?" she asked.

"In a sense," the old man nodded before sighing a little. "I guess it can't be helped. People do like to try new things after all…"

Suddenly, Usagi put her palm in front of the old man "Personally, I prefer the old fashioned way." she said with a smile.

The old man smiled at her, before taking out a magnifying glass and examining her palm closely. "I see… an interesting future ahead of you young lady, a boy you see almost everyday… and he has feelings for you… however your paths do not cross, your fates are with others," he mused. "Also, you will be surrounded by many lifelong friends who will cherish you as much as you cherish them," he said with a smile.

Usagi hummed in thought at that, wondering about the many friends part, but also about the one who held feelings for her.

"Someone I see everyday… Kensuke maybe?" she wondered after thanking the old man and leaving him a bit of money for the rather detailed reading, blushing a bit as she thought of the possibility of the rider having feelings for her.

Sure, she liked Tuxedo Kamen as well, but she saw Kensuke more often than him… but then there was the part about their fates being with someone else.

Eventually, she sighed "This is really complicated… I'll just go at it head on instead!" she said with a certain nod, before she felt a weight jump onto her shoulders "Hey Luna." she said, already knowing who it was.

"Hello there Usagi, shouldn't you be home by now?" Luna asked her with a raised eyebrow.

Usagi shrugged "I'm taking the scenic route to exercise."

Luna smiled at that "I'm glad to see you're taking this seriously." she said, before jumping back onto the ground "Mind if I join you?"

Usagi grinned "Not at all, in fact, race you home." she said, before she started jogging again, Luna going at the same pace as her.

Shortly after she left the area however, Kensuke walked out of a small corner store, chomping down on a piece of melon bread.

He chuckled to himself "Nothing beats melon bread." he said, before humming "Hmm, if I ever get a wife, I hope it'll become a regular family desert… that and chocolate cake."

Then, he noticed the area he was in, and how… empty it looked for once, before looking across the street "Huh… that's pretty gaudy." he said, before walking into the alley, seeing the same old man who had just, unknown to him, read Usagi's fortune "Low business sir?"

The old man looked up in surprise, before smiling "Ah, well I only had one young girl pay me a visit just a few minutes ago."

Kensuke hummed at that "Well, how about you read my fortune as well?" he requested, happy to give the old man business.

"I'd be happy to," the man smiled. "Which type of reading would you like?"

"Hm...how about tarot? Never had that type before," Kensuke asked.

"I'll admit it's not my go-to method, but I can do it well enough," the old man chuckled as he pulled out a deck of tarot cards, and laid them out. Humming a little, he soon overturned 3 cards, humming a little with each revealed card. When he was done, he looked at Kensuke. "Interesting," he mused. "I must admit, you have a rather...interesting future ahead of you. The card of your present, the Moon, it represents danger. It seems danger is present in your life. I hope you're not involved in something you shouldn't be involved with," the old man mused. "Furthermore...the Tower represents disaster. It seems if you're not careful, disaster awaits you and those close to you," he frowned. "But it's not all bad. The Lovers. It seems you will find a strong willed woman, one who compliments you nicely."

"Strong willed woman huh? That sounds promising." Kensuke said with a smile, trying to picture what kind of woman it would be from that kind of description. "Is there anything else?"

"Not that I can tell. All I can say is you'd best be careful young man. As long as you are, you'll have a good life," the old man smiled.

* * *

Meanwhile, Usagi was in between jogging periods, and she soon came upon a welcome sight in front of a grocery store "Hi dad!" the blonde girl said as she ran up to her father, the bespectacled man blinking as he turning to look at her.

"Ah, Usagi, what are you doing all the way out here?" the man asked in surprise.

"Taking the long way back from school to get some exercise in." she answered simply as she started walking next to him, Luna jumping back onto her shoulder.

"I see, good to hear you're trying to stay fit with how much you eat." the man said with a nod.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Usagi asked him dryly.

"I wonder?" the man said with a sheepish laugh.

Usagi gave him a dry look, before sighing and deciding not to make a fuss about it. It really wouldn't do anything to make a fuss about it now. "So, doing groceries?" she asked.

"Of course. I leave taking care of the house to your mom, so the least I can do is help out with these things whenever I can," he said with a smile.

Usagi smiled at that "I hope I have a relationship like you and mom someday." she said happily.

"If any young man wants to date you, he'll have to go through me first!" her father said suddenly.

Usagi groaned at that "Dad, I'm 14, I can take care of myself." she said as she continued to walk home with her father.

* * *

The next day started out fairly normally...save for one thing. "So...did Umino happen to say anything to you recently?" Naru couldn't help but ask.

"No, nothing beyond the usual," Usagi said as they were currently at the shoe locker area. "Why do you ask?"

"Well, I'm pretty sure Umino likes you," Naru said, though she played it down a little, since his feelings were….painfully obvious especially after yesterday.

"I don't see how that information is new." Usagi shot back with a raised eyebrow, she already knew Umino had a thing for her, but she had made it painfully clear she wasn't interested.

"Yeah, but he went to visit the House of Fortunes yesterday, or at least, he said he would go." Naru added.

"Oh, yeah, speaking of that, I visited that old man in front of that new gaudy place yesterday. I actually got a nice reading, something about a boy liking me, but our fates not being with each other, and how I'll get plenty of trusted friends." Usagi said with a smile, mostly happy about the trusted friends part.

"That's great to hear...well...maybe not the first part, but other than that I can definitely see it happening," Naru smiled. "Though...I wonder who the boy is…I hope it's not Kensuke," she added the last bit with a playful smile.

Usagi blushed a bit "Y-yeah… do you think… I should just outright ask him out?"

"Well, maybe not yet, but after getting to know him more, go for it, use your charms and win him over." Naru said encouragingly.

"Yeah, I'll do just that!" Usagi agreed. However…

"Morning girls," came Umino's voice, to which they turned around...and stopped short.

"Uh… what's with the outfit?" Naru asked as Umino was wearing a suit and tie rather than the standard uniform.

"You're gonna get in trouble with the teachers for wearing that." Usagi told him with a raised eyebrow.

"Who cares?" Umino said, his voice much more confident than it normally was. "Usagi, let's go on a date today," he said as he came closer.

"Wait, what?!" Usagi and Naru gasped, not so much at the question, but more at the 180 personality change. However, before they could say more…

"Umino, what is with that outfit?" Ms. Haruna Sakurada said crossly.

"It's what I wear now, deal with it." the glasses boy said with a smug grin.

Their homeroom and english teacher gave him a narrowed gaze, before pointing towards the door "You are marching right back home and changing into your uniform, NOW!"

"Heh, make me," Umino smirked as he fished out a piece of bread, stuck it in his mouth, before...flipping her skirt.

Ms. Sakurada understandably screamed as she tried to keep her skirt down, Usagi and Naru far too shocked that UMINO of all people had actually done that.

"Nice panties. The smiley face today?" Umino smirked before laughing without a care as he walked away.

The woman understandably started to cry "No one will want to marry me now." she whined as she crouched down.

"I don't think anyone noticed Ms. Sakurada." Usagi tried to comfort the woman as she crouched down, knowing that Umino had gone too far with that one.

"Yeah, besides, when it's a creep who does things like that, they just need a good buttkicking in my opinion." Naru added.

Usagi rose an eyebrow at her friend "You've been watching TV before bed again, haven't you?"

"Hey, the best shows are on late." Naru whispered with a light shove.

Their teacher sniffled a bit, before laughing slightly "Thanks girls… I think I needed a bit of normal interaction after… that." she said with a shiver.

"I'm more worried about whatever the heck got into Umino," Usagi frowned. She hoped this was a one time thing…

Unfortunately, as the day progressed, it was proven that this was NOT a one time deal. In fact...it was spreading. It started with Umino blatantly disrupting class by openly and loudly laughing while reading a comic in plain sight, then when Ms. Sakurada went to stop him, one of the other boys actually tripped her while she was walking, and another actually chided her for 'not walking quietly'. It was at this point that it was painfully clear to Usagi something was not right.

* * *

"What? Yuuji also went to the House of Fortunes?" Usagi checked, earning a nod from one of her classmates who knew where the boy who'd tripped Ms. Sakurada had went recently.

"And Umino went there last night too," Naru frowned, having also been curious about this. A sudden change of personality...it was reminding her too much of what happened to her mother. "You don't think this is like what happened to mom nearly a week ago, do you?" Now she was worried. As much as she'd like to forget that incident, she would always remember the sight of that monster dropping its guise of her mother, and with that in mind, what were the odds that possibly the same thing was happening now.

"L-Let's not jump to any conclusions yet," Usagi said, though inwardly she was just as worried of the idea that Youma were replacing her classmates for whatever reason. Either way, she knew where to look after school. However, that train of thought was cut short when the next thing they heard was the sound of glass breaking, the two girls running to the scene just in time to see several boys, Umino in the lead, throwing rocks and breaking school windows, one of the faculty having to quickly duck to avoid a rock that nearly brained him. "Okay, this is too much," Usagi gasped as she and Naru ran towards them.

"What do you think you're doing?!" Naru shouted as they reached them, catching the boys' attention.

"Yeah, don't you think this is going too far?!" Usagi agreed. There was a line between being rebellious and acting like a jerk, and these boys were crossing that line.

Umino however smirked when he saw them. "Yo, Usagi."

"Don't 'yo' me! What do you think you're doing, Umino!" Usagi demanded, only for him to grab her arm.

He didn't even get a chance to open his mouth before he was met with Usagi's free fist, laying him flat on the ground and making him let go of her.

Everybody present stared at her in surprise for a good long while, before Naru finally spoke "Uh… that's new."

Usagi glanced aside with a sheepish blush "Kensuke has been teaching me self defense."

"Well…" Naru looked at Umino who was seeing stars on the ground. "I'd say he's been doing a good job."

"He did," Usagi nodded, before turning to the other boys. "Anyone else want some?" She asked, doing her best to look imposing. Fortunately it was enough as they soon went away, Usagi letting out a sigh of relief. She honestly was sure she only got lucky with Umino.

"Well, good job there. Kensuke is definitely teaching you well." Naru said, poking the unconscious Umino with a stick she got from… somewhere.

"Yeah, he's a pretty strict teacher." Usagi said as she shook her hand a bit, it was her first time properly punching someone in the face.

"So, now what?" Naru asked.

"I… guess we hope Sailor Moon and Kamen Rider Blade investigate the House of Fortunes?" Usagi said, finding it weird to be referring to herself in the third person.

* * *

"You know, at this rate I'm starting to wonder if we should start investigating every 'conveniently new' business that starts up in this city," Kensuke said dryly as they were now looking at the House of Fortunes from a nearby alleyway.

"Honestly, I can't fault you for that logic, the chances of them being Dark Kingdom schemes are high." Luna added as she sat on a trash can.

"So, transform and storm the place then?" Usagi asked.

"You're getting used to this quickly," Kensuke chuckled.

"If I were alone, I'd be a lot less brave about this," Usagi admitted. "It's a lot less scary since I know you got my back."

"Well, I'm trusting my back to you, so call it even," Kensuke chuckled. "Now then, time to put this scheme out of business," he said as he places his buckle on his waist, the belt forming and the pulsing beginning.

"Right!" Usagi nodded, before raising her hand. "Moon Prism Power, Make up!"

At the same time, Kensuke grabbed the handle of his buckle. "Henshin!" he called out as he pulled. " **Turn Up!** "

* * *

"Everyone, you did well," the fortune teller who ran the House of Fortunes said before a small crowd of mainly students, with Umino in the lead (having apparently woken up not long after Usagi decked him), all of them having rather malicious looks on their faces, and what appeared to be lights shaped like cards glowing from within their clothes. "Now I'll have you all wreak havoc in town."

"Sure!"

"Sounds fun!"

And various other sounds of agreement came from the crowd. That is until…

"Hold it right there!" came two voices as the doors were thrown open. "What's worse than old men being envious of youth and popularity, are those that think nothing of people's feelings!"

"Who's there?!" the fortune teller demanded as the two figures stepped into view.

"I'm the pretty sailor soldier of love and justice, Sailor Moon!" Sailor Moon declared. "And…" she started...but trailed off when she realized she had no idea what to call Blade.

Blade picked up on that and with an amused shrug decided to play along. "The Azure Knight of Spades, Kamen Rider Blade!"

"In the name of the Moon…!" Sailor Moon started.

"And of the Azure Dragon…!" Blade continued.

"We'll punish you!" they finished. Once they did, inwardly Sailor Moon was rather giddy at how cool she thought that sounded. Blade on the other hand was mildly surprised he went along with the speech to that extent...but he figured it was kinda fun. That and apparently these enemies WERE dumb enough to stop and wait for them to finish, so...cool.

The fortune teller quickly regained her wits, and taking a deck of tarot cards, she hurled them at the two, Sailor Moon dodging, while Blade knocked several out of the air, the cards embedding into the ground and wall. "I thought Death Dealers were only in anime!" Sailor Moon gasped.

"Huh, clever." Blade told her, before catching a card going right for his head and looking at it "Death? Really?" he said, before throwing it right back, catching the fortune teller in the arm.

She glared at them, before her form shifted, her hair elongating and becoming snake-like, while her skin became green, giving her a real 'medusa' vibe, though thankfully without the turn everything to stone bit. "Get them!" she ordered as the people under her control moved forward, their bodies turning green like hers.

"Note to self. Get the Youma away from wherever their victims are. They just come back as borderline zombies," Blade deadpanned as he was forced to hold his sword in reverse so he could use the guard as a makeshift boxing glove while he did his best to fight back without causing any lasting injuries… besides a concussion or two. Likewise, Sailor Moon had managed to get to her feet and was now doing her best to fend them off. It was one thing to learn how to fight, but she was also aware that these were innocent victims. She didn't want to have to hurt them more than necessary if at all.

Fortunately, they didn't need to worry too much about that, as at that moment, something flew through the air, and struck the Youma in...well…

"Ouch…" Blade and Sailor Moon winced as the rose had struck her in the right eye, bringing forth a long and drawn out scream of pain from the Youma. If nothing else, despite the rather...gruesome method, it had an effect as the 'zombies' had stopped moving. Literally.

"Okay, that's kinda weird," Sailor Moon couldn't help but say as she waved a hand in front of the now frozen Umino.

"Nice timing again," Blade couldn't help but say as he turned to the source of the rose (which the Youma had pulled out much to her own agony), and wasn't surprised to find Tuxedo Kamen.

Tuxedo Kamen smirked a little. "I'd say don't give up no matter how hard things are, but I think you two were doing just fine there," he said, before turning to the Youma which was glaring hatefully at him, before she lunged at him, her hair turning into claws. However… "That won't work! Tuxedo La Smoking Bomber!" Tuxedo Kamen called out, his cape wrapping around him for a moment before dispersing as he punched forward, shooting a sphere of energy towards the Youma who was once again hit in the face, sending her flying back to the wall.

"Again with the face!" she roared angrily. "I'll rip you in half!"

"Not when you're that open!" Blade shouted, being the first to take advantage of the Youma's disorientation, and running forward, while scanning two Rouse Cards. " **Slash! Thunder!** " the two cards were soon absorbed into his armor as his face plate glowed red and electricity crackled all over him. "Lightning...Slash!" he called out as he swung his sword horizontally, catching the Youma at the chest, causing her to let out a choking gasp as the blade cut through her with ease, lightning running through her before she soon crumbled to dust, leaving a tarot card of 'The Devil', which soon turned to ashes.

Right as that happened, the controlled victims all fell to the ground like puppets with cut strings.

"Thanks for the… opening." Blade finished lamely when he saw that Tuxedo Kamen had already left "Geez, you'd think he'd stick around to be thanked."

"That's why he's so cool though, because he's so mysterious." Sailor Moon said with a dreamy sigh while Blade just shook his head.

"Good job, both of you," Luna said with a smile as she came out from hiding, before adding. "Now, I think we may want to leave before they wake up...or the police come if anyone heard the fighting."

"Considering one of us uses electricity, I wouldn't be surprised." Sailor Moon commented, while Blade glanced at her dryly.

"Let's just get going." he said with a sigh, before the two quickly left the building and jumped away, nobody even noticing their escape.

* * *

 **And there!**

 **That was Kensuke's history right there.**

 **What do you think? Like the chinese beasts reference?**

 **And do you like how different Usagi is here?**

 **Leave your opinions, but please, no flames or insults.**

 **See ya next time!**


	3. Card 3

**Welcome everyone, to yet another chapter of Trump of the Moon.**

 **As you obviously saw with the last chapter, we're covering what happens in the anime.**

 **Why?**

 **Because more character development chances that way.**

 **Seriously, compare the original anime to the manga and crystal, 14 acts for the Dark Kingdom, and almost 50 episodes in the original anime.**

 **That's a LOT of time to put in character development.**

 **So yeah, deal with it people, the story is going to be LONG.**

* * *

Kensuke hummed lightly to himself as he stepped out of the shower in his apartment, a towel around his neck as he was dressed just in a pair of pajama pants, which made sense since it was the middle of the night.

He may have classes in the morning sometimes, but there were nights he just couldn't sleep, so he would try several different tactics.

Which included drinking some warm milk while listening to the radio, all after taking a hot shower.

Hey, if all that worked for kids, it could work for an adult.

Though, he suddenly blinked in confusion when the radio switched to it's midnight airing… and it wasn't the same one as a few nights ago.

"Welcome once again everyone, to Midnight Zero." spoke a smooth male voice.

Kensuke raised an eyebrow, before looking at the radio schedule he had pinned to his fridge along with the TV airings and his calendar.

Midnight Zero was NOT the program for the start of the next day.

"After our first airing last night, we received plenty of love letters that you all wanted us to read outloud, so, one of you ladies will be our lucky first winner and receive their flower brooch by the coming morning." the announcer continued.

A show that reads love letters huh? And the first airing was last night at that.

Idly, Kensuke grabbed the daily newspaper and flipped it to the radio's page.

Yeahp, still no mention of Midnight Zero.

"And our first letter is…" some light rummaging could be heard from the radio "Ah, a letter that a woman wrote to her husband, a man who works in the night. Very touching."

Kensuke blinked at that, though he did smile a bit despite how strange it was, the announcer was right, it WAS touching. After a few more letters were read, the host of the show, one 'J-Dite', said that for all the people who's letters he had read, they would be receiving a special gift in the form of a flower brooch by mail in the morning. With that the show was over. "Huh...interesting show," he mused, though with how things were so far, he had a feeling it wouldn't be as innocent as it seemed to be. Probably should talk to Usagi and Luna about it first chance he got.

* * *

The next morning soon found him in class...and in an odd situation, namely that class should be starting, but the teacher was nowhere to be found. "Strange… Mrs. Kenzaki is never late," Kensuke mused as he looked at his watch. She was late...by half an hour already. Normally she was in class a good 10 minutes AT LEAST before it was time to start.

Even the more tardy students had time to arrive before her.

He frowned, getting up as he decided he should look into this.

Especially since in the back of his mind, the first letter that had been read last night, he was positive that was Mrs. Kenzaki, despite the fact it was one of the few letters to not be signed.

Her husband worked a night shift after all, as a security guard in one of Tokyo's museums. Still...he couldn't exactly jump to conclusions without...proof?

As if on cue, Mrs. Kenzaki came into the room...looking like she wanted nothing more than fall to the ground and go into a coma.

"Mrs. Kenzaki? Are you alright?" Kensuke asked as he went up the dark haired woman in concern.

The woman let out a yawn "Y-yes, yes I'm… fiiiiiii…" she said, getting slower in her speech, before tipping forwards, and Kensuke caught her just before she started tumbling down the steps, finding that the woman has just suddenly fallen asleep.

That aside, he also found something else. She was wearing a flower brooch on her chest, one he knew she hadn't had before. In short, he'd just found the proof for his suspicions right there. The letter, the flower brooch that the show had promised to send, and the normally perky woman looking like she hadn't slept in a week. "...wow, they really aren't subtle at all," was all he could say under his breath as this had 'Dark Kingdom' written all over it...in neon paint. "Someone call the nurse, I don't think she's waking up!" he said to his classmates who quickly did just that...though not before he took a few tissues and used them to bundle up the flower. Last thing he wanted was to touch these things with his hand and end up having HIS energy drained.

For now though, he'd try to look into this on his own.

No need for Usagi to have to deal with every little incident and get little to no amount of sleep.

* * *

"You're positive?" Kensuke asked seriously.

"Absolutely sir, we've never started up the Midnight Zero show, nobody even knows what exactly is going on." the security guard at the front gates of the radio station building told him.

"I see… thank you for your time." he said with a nod before turning and leaving.

It had already been a day since his teacher was hospitalized, with no doubt more joining her in a land of eternal dreams.

As it stood now, he was suspecting that the Dark Kingdom was hijacking the airwaves when the clock struck midnight.

After all, who would be dumb enough to just broadcast from the building itself?

Either way, for now, he simply got on his motorcycle, the camouflage version of his Blue Spader, which took the simple appearance of a blue dirt bike when he was untransformed, before putting his helmet on and heading off into the city to try and find any leads.

* * *

Later that night, once again the Midnight Zero show was playing on the radio, having read more love letters, promising more flower brooches. Among the listeners, Usagi had a dreamy look in her eyes. "I'd love to have a flower brooch like that," she said, thinking about how they supposedly helped make love come true. Probably just a catch line to make them sound more special, but the thought was still a pleasant one in her opinion, especially when she started fantasizing about Kensuke and Tuxedo Kamen each giving her one, so much so she didn't really notice when Luna came into the room. "Maybe I should write a letter too," she mused. "But then...who to address it to…?" she mused until…

"Usagi!" Luna raised her voice, finally breaking her out of her little daydream.

"Eh? What is it, Luna?" she blinked.

"I've been calling you for a bit already and you didn't respond," the cat huffed. "At any rate, shouldn't you be going to bed soon? You don't want to oversleep, right?"

"I know," Usagi said. "I just wanted to listen to that Midnight Zero show everyone was talking about," she said.

"Well, alright. Just don't forget that you already have issues waking up normally, so don't make this a habit," Luna said.

"Right, well good night then," Usagi said, before getting into bed, Luna curling up on the bed as well, before the lights were soon turned off.

The next morning though...Usagi managed to wake up, albeit a bit later than she'd have liked, and after a rush, managed to make it to school on time...but their homeroom teacher wasn't present yet. "Huh? Where's Ms. Sakurada?" Usagi asked.

"It's pretty strange for her to be late," Umino agreed.

"Aww...does that mean I could have gotten a bit more sleep?" Usagi deflated, yawning a bit. Maybe staying up to listen to Midnight Zero, romantic as it was, wasn't such a great idea after all…

However, just as she said that, the door open and in came their teacher...looking like she was running on empty if how she was swaying, dropping some of the things she was carrying, and even tripped on the way to the teacher's desk, though she managed to catch herself before she hit the ground.

Usagi and Naru glanced at each other as they saw the state the teacher was in.

Yeah… something was up.

Though, Usagi idly noticed that her teacher had a purple flower pinned to her vest.

'So, that letter last night WAS her.' she thought in realisation.

"Alright everyone, I'll begin taking roll…" she trailed off as the book fell out of her hand. "On second thought, today's going to be a self study. I'm just feeling so…" she was soon snoring on the teacher table.

"Uh...Ms. Sakurada?" Naru asked, getting up from her desk and lightly shaking her teacher. No response.

Everyone blinked at the sight, before Usagi got up and walked up to their teacher. "Naru...cover your ears. And if this works, please help make it not so bad for me…" Usagi sighed, before taking a DEEP breath, puffing up her cheeks...and for a bit nothing happened, but they could swear her face was turning red before… "YAAAAAAHHH!" Usagi shouted right over the sleeping woman, a loud sound that some of her classmates swore could wake the dead. In fact, it was so loud, the nearby classrooms stopped short, wondering what the heck was that. However despite it all...Ms. Sakurada still wouldn't wake up.

"...someone call an ambulance…" was all Umino could say, as if THAT didn't wake her then something was DEFINITELY wrong.

* * *

The class was silent as they watched the paramedics bring the still sleeping teacher into the ambulance. She didn't stir even once as they were moving her.

"You know...come to think of it I think I heard about this in the news," Naru frowned. "It's some kind of sleeping sickness that's been going around. Apparently you never wake up from it."

"Scary…" Usagi frowned. As much as she liked sleeping, she didn't want to be asleep forever. "I wonder what's causing it?" she mused.

"They've been trying to figure it out, but so far nothing has come up. It's like the victims just don't have the energy to wake up," Umino said.

"No energy…?" Usagi blinked, before a thought crossed her mind. 'Could it be…?' she thought. It sure SOUNDED like one of their plots. She'd be sure to ask Luna later when she got home.

* * *

Later, once school was out, Usagi was walking next to Naru, still deep in thought, trying to understand what the Dark Kingdom's scheme may be, and so far… she didn't have much.

'People are falling asleep and not waking up, but what do they have in common besides that… I had to ask Umino if he could find out anything about that, and he DID find something, all of them are women, but besides that, there's not much.' she was so deep in thought, she didn't hear Naru tell her that someone was right in front of her till Usagi walked right into them.

"So sorry about that I didn't watch where I was going!" Usagi said quickly as she bowed and apologised.

"Well, apologising to telephone polls now Dumpling Head? Maybe you need some glasses." a familiar and unwelcome voice snarked, making her look up to see a telephone pole, before she glanced to the side… and yeah, same jerk that was in front of Osa-P the other day.

"You want a piece of me Mr. I-Wear-A-Tuxedo-in-the-middle-of-the-day?!" Usagi shot back crossly.

"Nah, but it was a good laugh," he said as he walked past her with a laugh.

Usagi was still fuming as she glared at his retreating back, wanting nothing more than to kick his butt.

"Do you know him Usagi?" Naru asked, as while the man was handsome, it was clear Usagi had issues with him.

"I met him in front of Osa-P the other day, the discount incident, I was throwing away my exam in frustration and then he ticked me off by talking about how I wasn't very smart if I got such a low score." Usagi muttered just loud enough for her best friend to hear.

Naru winced at that "Well… I hope you don't see him again then."

"That makes two of us," Usagi said in annoyance. At least Tuxedo Kamen and Kensuke weren't like him. Speaking of which…

"Huh? Oh, hey Usagi, hey Naru," came Kensuke's voice as he took off his helmet, having been riding his motorbike when he happened to see the girls.

"Oh, hey Kensuke, fancy seeing you here." Naru said in surprise, honestly not expecting to see him, especially not on a motorcycle.

Usagi stared at the motorcycle a bit, now understanding why he called himself a Kamen RIDER. Though she quickly looked back at his face "Hi Kensuke, I was actually looking for you, something I needed to talk to you about regarding my lessons." she said.

Kensuke looked at her, nodding in understanding, it was a bit of code they had come up with should they need to talk about anything Youma or Undead related and their friends were around "In that case, how about I give you a lift back home and you tell me more back there?"

"Aww, a bike ride, how romantic~" Naru said, mostly to tease Usagi, which worked if her blush was any indication… still no reaction from Kensuke though other than a raised eyebrow.

"A-anyway, we'd better get going," Usagi said, getting on quickly and putting on a spare helmet. "I'll see you tomorrow, Naru!" Usagi said, waving to her friend as they soon rode away, much to Naru's amused smile.

Once they were far away enough, he took a deliberate wrong turn and they soon stopped at a small park that they knew they could talk without interruption. "So...what did you find out?" he asked once they'd stopped and taken the helmets off.

"Have you heard about those strange cases of people falling asleep and not waking up? It actually happened to my teacher this morning." Usagi told him.

Kensuke frowned at that, before sighing "Yeah, my own teacher was one of the first victims. I thought it was weird so I started investigating, thought I could give you a break on this one and handle it myself."

Usagi smiled a bit "Thanks for the thought, but if we do this, we do it together."

Kensuke nodded after a moment, smirking lightly "Right, so, first off, I thought that the new radio show, Midnight Zero, was pretty weird, especially since it's not listed at all, and even at the station itself they have no clue what's going on."

"Hey, now that you mention it, when my teacher got the sleeping sickness, she was wearing a flower brooch," Usagi said. "Just like what J-Dite promised to anyone who's love letters were read."

"Did it happen to look like this?" Kensuke asked, taking out a thick ball of tissue and unwrapping it to reveal the flower brooch he took from Mrs. Kenzaki recently.

"That's the one!" Usagi said in alarm.

"I took it off of my teacher to help with some digging, and well, turns out there's absolutely NO flower that matches, trust me, I even went to a botanical garden to have them help me out. So, likely that this J-Dite, possibly an anagram or something, is an agent of the Dark Kingdom and fabricated these to steal energy from people." Kensuke said seriously.

"Then we have to find wherever they're broadcasting the show from and stop them!" Usagi nodded.

"That's the only problem. I can't seem to pinpoint where they'd likely be broadcasting from," Kensuke frowned.

"Do you think they could be in the radio station?" Usagi mused. The two of them were silent for a moment...before laughing out loud. "Naaah, they can't be so dumb as to actually broadcast from the very station they say they're in, right?"

"Yeah, you'd have to be PRETTY stupid to put your illicit scheme exactly where you say it is," Kensuke laughed as well.

Meanwhile, the Dark Kingdom's residents were having a sneezing fit.

With their quick discussion over, Kensuke soon brought her back to her house and dropped her off, while he went to continue investigating however he could.

When Usagi entered her house… "So… who was that?" her mother asked with a light teasing grin.

Usagi blushed a bit "Just a friend who works at the arcade, he gave me a lift back home since he has heading through here anyway."

"Really now? He just happened to already be taking a path that took him right in front of our house?" her mother continued with a knowing smile.

"Yeahp, totally it." Usagi said a bit loudly, trying to hide her embarrassment with a rather fake laugh.

"Of course," Ikuko chuckled, making it clear she didn't buy it one bit, but wasn't going to make a big fuss about it.

"A-Anyway, I'll be going to my room, gotta go feed Luna. Bye!" Usagi was up the stairs VERY fast.

* * *

"So you and Kensuke think that Midnight Zero might be one of the Dark Kingdom's schemes?" Luna frowned after Usagi explained what had happened, before nodding. "I agree. This sleeping sickness is too much like that of someone having their energy drained to be a coincidence. However, we'll have to double our efforts to find the source. If we can't do that, we'll be unable to stop the scheme."

"Right," Usagi nodded. "That's why we'll be listening again tonight. Maybe we might hear a clue."

"We might even be able to tell if there are any potential victims near us. We might just be able to stop them from falling victim to this scheme," Luna said in addition.

With that decided, Usagi quickly took care of everything that remained for her to do today, before waiting until midnight rolled around, and when it did…

"Once again, we welcome you back to Midnight Zero, I'm your host, J-Dite."

"Here we go again." Usagi muttered, making sure to listen closely.

"The first letter we will read is from Naru who lives in Juban," J-Dite said.

Usagi and Luna both froze at that, before slowly turning to each other… and then they proceeded to freak out.

Meanwhile, with Kensuke, he wasn't faring any better, as he spat out his drink "What the shit Naru?!" This was bad. VERY bad. He just hoped Usagi could get to Naru before she put on the brooch that was no doubt coming for her. If not...well...he had a feeling he wouldn't want to be J-Dite when Usagi got her hands on whoever he was.

* * *

The next morning…

"Good morning! Good bye!" Usagi shouted as she grabbed a piece of toast, her lunch, and her bag and was soon out the door before her parents could say anything.

"...but she's not even late today…" Ikuko blinked, wondering what on earth had Usagi in such a hurry.

"I'm more worried about what had her so upset. I swear, she looked like she wanted to beat someone to a pulp," Kenji said, honestly shocked at seeing an expression like that on his daughter's face.

"Well, whatever's got her this upset, I'm glad I'm not them right now," Shingo sighed. His sister was usually a nice and gentle girl, but when she really gets angry, she gets ANGRY.

Back with Usagi, she was running at full tilt towards school, before Kensuke rolled up to next to her and she silently hopped on, the boy not even questioning her as he simply gave her a helmet and sped off towards her school, knowing they needed to be fast.

When they reached the building… let's just say Kensuke didn't care if he caused a disturbance as he rolled onto the school grounds, screeching to a halt right in front of the doors while Usagi threw off her helmet and ran up to her classroom.

However, when she reached her class, she was met with the sight of Naru and several other girls looking at the flower brooch, Naru just about to put it on. "Naru! Nooo!" Usagi shouted, trying to stop her friend, but too late, as she had pinned it on her clothes, just as she turned to see Usagi. Instantly, the flower glowed for a moment, before the light in Naru's eyes grew dim and she slumped over onto her desk.

Everyone had turned to Usagi at her entrance, before snapping back towards Naru when her head fell onto the desk "W-what happened to her?" one of her classmates asked in surprise.

Usagi… actually growled as she pulled a tissue from her bag and pulled off the flower "This thing happened, that's what! My friend has been looking into these flowers and they're poisonous when they get close to a person's heart! If any of you find these in the mail or wherever, just burn them!"

School was the LAST thing on her mind right now, as she was there when the Ambulance came and she'd insisted on coming along, with Kensuke saying he'll pick up Luna before meeting her at the hospital. Once at the hospital, she refused to leave Naru's side until Naru's mother managed to arrive having heard the news. Helping to console the hysterical woman for a bit, she soon left the room to let her stay with her daughter. Once she was out, she turned a corner to find Luna and Kensuke waiting for her.

"We need to figure out where the broadcasting is coming from," Luna said, voicing their thoughts.

"Let's think back first about what we know. All the victims are the ones who contracted the sleeping sickness. They contracted it through the Flower Brooches that they received in the mail, with said brooches being 'prizes' for those who have their love letters read by J-Dite on Midnight Zero," Kensuke frowned.

Usagi folded her arms, thinking hard with them. There had to be a clue to where they broadcast was coming from. Thinking hard, she thought about the details they knew. The victims were decided based on the love letters. That meant that they would need to be somewhere they could get access to the love letters, and with how things were presented, the love letters from the unwitting victims would be sent to…

Like a switch, it all clicked into place, and Usagi realized where the broadcast was coming from, as well as something else. "Oh my god...they ARE that dumb," she gasped in realization.

"Huh?" Kensuke and Luna blinked.

"They're picking targets based on love letters. Where would they have to be to get access to ALL the letters that are sent?" Usagi said.

"They'd have to be at...the address the letters are sent to…" Luna's eyes widened in realization.

"They're in the goddamn radio station. The very place we overlooked BECAUSE it was too obvious," Kensuke face palmed. "You're right. They ARE that dumb."

"How the hell did we lose against them the first time?" Luna muttered under her breath in shock at how… idiotic the Dark Kingdom was if they were actually in the most obvious place possible.

"Well… let's deal with them tonight." Usagi said, before punching her palm "Their going to pay for hurting Naru."

"Agreed, but before we go in guns blazing, we've got another issue," Kensuke frowned. "How do we get in without being noticed? We can't exactly barge in as Sailor Moon and Blade, seeing as I'm PRETTY sure most of the staff are still human. If they were in cahoots, they wouldn't have acted like they had no idea about the show."

"Leave that one to me," Luna said with a small smirk.

* * *

"Okay, here we are. FM no. 10. So now's a good a time as any to pull out that trick up your proverbial sleeve, Luna," Usagi said as they were currently near the station at night. They figured it'd be best to get in near midnight to make sure they catch the Youma responsible for this.

"Right," Luna nodded before she did a backflip, and the trail of magic formed a pen, which soon fell to the ground. "Use this," she said, as Usagi picked it up.

"This is…?" Usagi blinked as she and Kensuke examined the pen.

"The Disguise Pen, just call out 'Moon Power' and say what kind of disguise you want and it'll give it to you." Luna instructed.

"Would it work with me as well?" Kensuke asked with a raised eyebrow.

Luna nodded "It would yes… though it'll be the first time a man uses it."

Kensuke looked at her dryly "If I'm suddenly wearing a skirt, someone's getting dunked in ice cold water."

"Duly noted…" Luna gulped thickly. "Just to be safe then, please specify the gender if necessary."

"Right, let's get this over with then," Kensuke said, taking the pen from Usagi first. "Okay… Moon Power, turn me into...a cameraman!" he said, keeping his eyes closed as the sparkles and everything came, and when they cleared, he hesitated in opening his eyes "Am I wearing a skirt?" he asked fearfully.

"Nope, you're good." Usagi told him, making him open his eyes to see he had a pair of shades on his face, before looking down, seeing he was wearing, a green coat over a simple striped shirt and a pair of jeans, with a heavy looking camera at his feet.

He let out a sigh of relief as he picked the camera up "Oh thank the lord." he said, handing the pen back to Usagi while he tried to see if the camera had anything special about it. He got his answer when he pressed a switch...and a roll of film shot out which soon wrapped around a nearby telephone pole. "Huh...that could be handy," he blinked, right as Usagi used the pen to transform into a 'pretty newscaster'.

"...was the pretty part really necessary?" Kensuke and Luna sweat dropped, while Usagi just laughed mischievously, as she was now dressed in a dark pink dress and short red skirt with white high heel shoes, while her hair had become neck length now.

"Well now, shall we go?" she chuckled as she put on the sunglasses on her person and started walking into the building...actually playing the part quite well...save for when she nearly fell thanks to the high heels, though Kensuke managed to catch her. Suffice to say she was a LOT more careful after that.

Once they were in, it didn't take long for them to find the room they were looking for. Peering into one of the recording rooms, they heard the sound of a man beginning the Midnight Zero show as normal, the voice being J-Dite. "So that's him, huh?" Kensuke mused as they got a good look at the mysterious host.

"He's… dressed like a freaking general." Usagi noted as his outfit honestly looked like military garb of some sort.

"And everybody besides him and that woman are asleep." Luna added as she noticed how everyone was unconscious.

"Well, how nice of them to make it painfully obvious who gets to bite the dust. Literally," Kensuke mused.

"We'd better stop them then," Luna frowned.

"No wait, we shouldn't do that yet," Usagi said.

"Hm? What do you have in mind?" Kensuke asked.

"Back me up if things get...messy," she sighed, before opening the door and barging in, much to J-Dite's surprise, as she sat down before him and started talking. "Sorry to interrupt your program, but this is an emergency news flash," she said, much to the man's annoyance. "We have learned that the flower brooches that have been sent from this program are very dangerous!" she said. "Do not touch them if they are sent to you!"

"What are you saying?!" J-Dite demanded in outrage at his plan somehow being found out.

Usagi wasn't deterred in the slightest as she kept talking. "Everyone, think about it! A love letter means nothing if you do not give it to the person yourself!" she said, before hitting a button to kill the broadcast. By then J-Dite was glaring at her.

"Who the hell are you?!" he demanded.

"Someone who's going to kick your butt for hurting my friend." she said darkly, and much to his surprise, she punched him right in the nose, sending him down on the ground as he clutched his face.

"Insolent girl!" the woman, whose body started shifting into something more monstrous, was about to lunge through the glass and at Usagi, before she felt a hand on her shoulder, making her turn around to see Kensuke who was giving her an evil smile, as he hit a button and a roll of film shot out of the camera, wrapping around her and tangling her up. With that taken care of, he opened the door. "Let's take this somewhere more spacious!" he suggested, earning a nod from Usagi, who kicked off her high heels (no way she was running in those) which hit J-Dite and the woman who was probably a Youma in the process while the two ran out of the room.

Good thing too, as the woman had transformed into her Youma form, and broke out of the film, followed by shooting some kind of energy blast from her mouth, causing the hall they were in to be covered in smoke from an explosion.

"Time to transform!" Luna shouted, and they didn't argue at all.

"Moon Prism Power, Make up!"

"Henshin!" " **Turn Up!** "

Once they got their footing back, they turned to see J-Dite and the Youma step out of the room, to which Sailor Moon pointed at them. "Trying to ruin girls' dreams of love is abominable! In the name of the moon…!"

"And the Azure Dragon...!"

"We will punish you!"

"So you're the ones who have kept interfering with us," J-Dite smirked.

"Yeah, and now that we've got one of the bosses in front of us, we're gonna turn you into a little pile of dust like all the other Youma you sent!" Blade countered, pulling out his sword.

"As if I'd just let you." the Youma smirked.

"Well, I mean, 2 for 2 so far, I think we've got good chances of making that 4 for 4 today." Usagi shot back tauntingly.

"Don't let your previous victories get to your heads," J-Dite said. "I am Jadeite, one of the Shittenou! I will not lose to the likes of you! Flau, destroy them!"

"With pleasure! Engarde!" the Youma, Flau, said as she lunged for them with her claws ready, but instead of using them, she released several more blasts from her mouth, causing the hall to be filled with explosion after explosion, forcing the three of them to dodge like crazy, before one shot opened a hole in the roof to which they all jumped out of.

"Okay, this should work better for us," Blade frowned. At least here they should be safer from the explosions.

"We have to take her out fast before she demolishes the station!" Luna said.

"Right!" Sailor Moon nodded as she removed her Tiara, turning it into its ready form. Right when Flau jumped out of the building to chase after them, she made her move. "Moon Tiara...Action!" she called out as she hurled the tiara.

"Not gonna work on me!" Flau laughed as she somehow adjusted her position in the air, evading the Tiara, before lunging for them.

"You're finished!" she laughed, striking with her claws...only for Blade to block them.

"You really think so, huh?" he said and she could hear the smirk he had under the helmet.

"Don't get cocky! You can't move right now and I just need to open my mouth!" Flau glared.

"Good point, but see...you've never seen how that attack works," he chuckled. "Here's a tip. It comes back to Sailor Moon as if it were a boomerang," Blade said simply.

Flau blinked, as if not fully understanding what he meant...before realizing much to her horror, that Sailor Moon was standing right behind him. She also realized it too late as the tiara came back and struck her in the back.

The sight would probably have been gruesome if she had been normal, since she was cut into two pieces, before falling to the floor as dust.

"Well… she wasn't very bright." Sailor Moon said as she caught the returning tiara.

"Let's not look a gift horse in the mouth. Now, time for the bigger fish," Blade said as they both hopped down to where Jadeite was. "As promised you're next blondie!"

"Oh?" Jadeite smirked. "You actually intend to fight me? You'll find me a lot harder than the Youma."

"Take 3 guesses how many cares we give on that. If it means these crazy plots stop here if we beat you then we're all for it!" Blade countered as he ran forward, sword at the ready. However Jadeite raised his hand and a barrier came up, blocking Blade's attack, pushing him back a little. "Huh, not a bad defense. In that case…" he unfolded his sword and drew one of the Rouse cards, before scanning it. " **Kick!** "

He flipped in the air as he went for the attack, his foot impacting the barrier, and while it held up, Jadeite was clearly putting some effort into it. The clash lasted for a few moments, before eventually Blade was repelled. "Fool! Did you really think that would work?" Jadeite laughed.

"Nah, I just thought I'd soften the barrier a little," Blade smirked.

"What?" Jadeite growled.

"For everyone you've hurt in your schemes! Moon Tiara Action!" Sailor Moon called out as her tiara soon impacted the barrier, causing Jadeite to have to put more energy into maintaining it, the magic in the tiara more potent than normal as it reacted to Sailor Moon's anger and her wish to see the insanity of these plots end. As a result, the barrier was straining, hairline fractures appearing on it, but still it wasn't enough.

"If that's all you can muster, I have nothing to fear!" Jadeite smirked. However…

" **Slash! Thunder!** " As the two images were absorbed into Blade's armor, he ran forward once more. "Lightning...Slash!" he called out as he struck the tiara with his attack, the force of his strike and the electricity mixing with the tiara, driving it into the barrier, and with a loud crack, the barrier broke.

"Impossible!" Jadeite gasped, before shouting in pain as the Tiara caught him in the arm, leaving a gash in it. Gritting his teeth he jumped back, vanishing for a moment before appearing in front of a dark portal, clutching his arm. "I'll remember this!" he growled before vanishing into the portal.

After he disappeared, Sailor Moon and Blade remained on guard for a few moments longer, just in case he was tricking them.

Eventually though, they relaxed "I guess he's really gone." Sailor Moon said, releasing a sigh.

"Yeah…" Blade said, before turning his head slightly "How long were you planning to just watch?"

His words confused Sailor Moon, before she followed where he was looking and saw Tuxedo Kamen standing on top of a fence.

"I was merely waiting to see if you would be in need of my assistance, but it seems I was mistaken. The two of you grow stronger with each battle, you especially Sailor Moon." Tuxedo Kamen said, and of course, Sailor Moon's face lit up at being complimented suddenly.

"That's nice and all, but do try to give us a more active hand rather than be our cheerleader next time." Blade snarked at the man, still not getting a good look at his face, but his voice sounded familiar to him.

In response, Tuxedo Kamen merely laughed "We shall see. But for now, goodnight to the both of you, and until we meet again!" he said, before leaping away and laughing grandly.

Blade stared at his retreating form, and all he could say was "Man that guy is weird with a capital W."

"He's so cool and mysterious though." Sailor Moon sighed dreamily, with Blade shaking his head with a sigh.

* * *

Meanwhile…

"Damn that Sailor Moon, and that Kamen Rider Blade," Jadeite growled as he reappeared inside what appeared to be a castle/cavern of some kind. Focusing some of his magic, he quickly healed the injury, but the sting to his pride was still there.

"That's what you get for underestimating your opponent," came a new voice.

Jadeite turned to the source of the voice as out from behind a pillar stepped a man with slicked back black hair, wearing a formal attire with a coat over it, glasses covering his golden eyes.

"What do you mean by that Kujaku?" Jadeite asked crossly.

"Exactly what I said. You thought that the two would be weak compared to you, but as you just saw, the emotions of a Sailor Scout can affect her magic, thus making her attack stronger because of her anger towards you. It's clear your schemes have affected people close to her already. As for Blade… well, the source of his power is strong, as strong, if not stronger than I am, and the more in tune he becomes with it, the stronger he in turn becomes… and we both know between you and I, who is stronger." Kujaku explained casually, all while getting on Jadeite's nerves.

"Bite your tongue!" Jadeite glared. "Perhaps I did simply underestimate them, something I will make sure doesn't happen again!"

"Make sure you don't. The Queen's mercy can only go for so long," Kujaku chuckled as he turned around and soon vanished into the darkness, leaving Jadeite to stew in his recent defeat.

* * *

 **And there's the chapter!**

 **So, did you all catch his teacher's family name? It's a bit of a reference, no plot significance, so don't look into it.**

 **Also, angry Usagi is not something you want on your ass.**

 **And just who is Kujaku? Well, obviously Timeless and I know, but you guys don't.**

 **Or maybe you do?**

 **If so, please, keep quiet and let the others try and figure it out.**

 **But for now, see you next time!**


	4. Card 4

**Next chapter, but this time, we're covering a bit more, you'll see what I mean.**

* * *

It was a peaceful evening for the town, as no strange incidents had happened for the last few days. Currently in the Tsukino household, Usagi had just stepped out of the bath, letting out a small sigh. Since today had been the weekend, Kensuke had been training her again earlier. The guy's training wasn't easy, but it definitely was helping. She was dodging more smoother now and she was confident she wouldn't have to worry about random muggers anymore now. With that in mind, she idly went to the weighing scale and got on. Looking at the numbers, she pumped her fist in victory, as another side effect of the new routine she'd settled into: her weight was definitely being kept in check.

* * *

"A diet?" Usagi blinked.

"Yeah, I've been trying a few to lose weight, but they're just so hard to stick to sometimes," one of their classmates, a rather chubby girl, said.

"We know," Usagi, Naru, and one more of their classmates couldn't help but say. At the same time.

"Hey, Usagi, with how much you eat how do you keep your weight down?" the other girl, a girl with neck length straight brown hair, asked.

Usagi… couldn't help but grin a bit, knowing how to really tease her friends "A handsome university student helping me train on the weekends."

The reaction she got was princeless, as both girls started scrambling at Usagi for details, while Naru smiled knowingly.

After a few minutes, a thought crossed Naru's mind. "You know… Ms. Sakurada's lost quite a bit of weight recently," she mused, remembering how their teacher seemed slimmer than before the last couple of days...which as impressive seeing as she wasn't exactly chubby to begin with.

"Really?" Usagi blinked in surprise.

As if on cue, Ms. Sakurada walked by, noticing them and waving, to which they waved back and was soon on her way again. "...I don't really see it," Usagi blinked, seeing as Ms. Sakurada wasn't exactly in great need of some weight loss.

"You wouldn't notice under those clothes," came Umino's voice as he was suddenly next to them.

"Where'd you come from?!" the four girls said in alarm, not expecting to see him here.

"I was walking by and heard you girls talking," Umino said. "Anyway, how I know is based on these," he said, showing two pictures of their teacher. "This is before, and this is after," he said, showing that while both WERE pretty similar, she definitely looked slimmer in the second one.

"...where the heck did you get those?" Usagi and Naru deadpanned.

"She borrowed my camera and asked me to have these pictures developed for her, I was going to give them as soon as I saw her." he answered with a shrug.

"So, where did she even go to work out?" Usagi asked after a moment.

"There's a new place that just opened up actually." Umino started, before going into more detail.

* * *

Several hours later had them standing in front of the gym that Umino told them about named 'Shapely'. "So this is the place," the chubby girl said.

"Doesn't look any different from a normal gym," the straight haired girl mused.

"Wonder how much they charge for their services if they actually work," Naru frowned.

"Well...they probably have at least some decent value. They've got Rie Gotou on that commercial," Usagi mused.

"Wow… that must have cost a fortune." the chubby girl said, before all of them headed inside.

It didn't take them long to get changed in the locker room, having brought their PE clothes with them just in case, and when they stepped out, they saw who they assumed was the manager, a man with slicked back red hair, wearing a pair of shades on his face.

"Welcome to Gym Shapely," the man said. "I'm the instructor here. Are you looking to join?"

The girls couldn't help but blush at the rather handsome man, to which Usagi started slowly. "Uh...we were looking around. We're wondering how much it would cost if we joined."

"Ah, well you're in luck. We currently have a special introductory promotion. All new applicants can join for free with the first week being free as well," he said with a smile.

"Really?" their two classmates said, before smiling. "Lucky us!"

"Well...that DOES sound like a good deal," Naru admitted, Usagi nodding in agreement.

It wasn't long before they were in the training area. The selection was fairly complete, with a variety of machines. Naru was using the pull up bars, Usagi was on a row machine, while their friends were using the dumbbells and the treadmill, all of them getting supervision from some of the other trainers. The two classmates were having a slight difficulty keeping up, clearly not used to the regular exercise, Naru doing a bit better than them. Usagi on the other hand wasn't having too much difficulty. It was tiring sure, but not exactly any worse than when Kensuke was training her. That and she secretly had another membership in another gym, so this was just trying out since there WAS that free trial.

"One sweat for two kilograms, two sweats for five, and three sweats and you too will be beautiful," the trainer said, clapping his hands encouragingly. "Now try harder," he said as the girls continued on the workout. Eventually…

"That's enough for today," the head trainer said, the girls sighing as they stopped the workout. Naru and their two classmates seemed rather winded, while Usagi seemed a bit less tired, no doubt due to her secret training.

The head trainer looked them over for a bit, then went to talk with the other trainers a little before turning around. "Now then, you've done well everyone. Next, we will bathe you in our Shape Ray to help with the weight loss process."

"Shape Ray?" the three of them blinked, though Naru's voice had an edge of uncertainty. This...didn't sound like a normal part of a weight loss program...or legal at that. Speaking of which… "Wait...where'd Usagi go?" she couldn't help but ask as her blonde best friend had suddenly vanished.

Turns out...she was in the bubble bath room. "Nothing like a bath after a workout," she smiled. "Still though...I don't see what's so special about this gym. They don't seem too different from any other gym…" she frowned. "Well, maybe we'll find out after a few more days," she shrugged. This WAS their first day after all.

* * *

When Naru was led down the dark stairs, she felt rather worried, but figured that it was normal since there was no windows in the staircase.

But when she entered the room at the bottom… she felt like backpedaling and running back outside.

"What… what is this thing?" she asked as she looked at the weird pods and the glowing crystal, honestly, it looked like it came off the set of Alien.

"These are the key ingredient in our workout program," the head trainer said. "If you are exposed to the shape ray for five minutes, you the chubby one will lose ten kilograms, while the lighter ones can lose three kilograms right away," he said.

"Really? No wonder Ms. Sakurada could lose weight so fast," the two girls smiled, apparently not the least bit put off by the room, more interested in losing weight quickly.

"I'm going in!" the chubby one said, pumping her fist.

"Me too!" the one with brown hair said in agreement, and before long both were inside the pods.

"I'm… going to pass." Naru said nervously, backing away from the VERY creepy pods.

Before she could get far though, she felt a pair of hands on her shoulders pushing her back forward "Please, I INSIST!" the head trainer said as he pushed her in a pod, which closed as soon as she was in it.

She tried to struggled free from it, but she was starting to feel weak so quickly, and soon, her eyes closed as she passed out.

Several minutes passed, and the pods soon opened, letting the three out...and well...they definitely looked thinner...but not in the good way.

"I feel…" the chubby one started.

"...really tired…" the one with brown hair said.

"Congratulations, you three have become fine beauties," the head trainer said, even when Naru glared at him like he HADN'T just shoved her into the pod. She didn't care if he was telling the truth or not. She was NOT coming back after that. Especially if it made her feel so tired out, well beyond what the workout did.

She ignored whatever else he had to say and went back up the stairs quickly, looking around for Usagi, and relief spread on her face when she saw her coming out of the bathroom.

"Usagi!" Naru called out to her as she went up to her, and, of course, Usagi's shocked face was to be expected.

"Wh-what the heck happened while I was in the bath?!" Usagi gasped. Naru looked terrible. Sure she looked slimmer, but not in a good way at all. Heck, she looked less 'lost some weight' and more 'haven't eaten in ages'.

Naru stumbled as she walked closer to her friend, who caught her with ease "Weird machine in the basement, I was pushed into it by the head trainer when I tried to leave, I just feel… drained."

Usagi's eyes narrowed at that, but she nodded slowly "Alright, how about I help you get back home? I'll call Kensuke, see if he has any ideas on what to do."

Naru nodded at that, accepting the idea, before she needed to have Usagi help her get changed in the locker room and then had to lean on her the whole way back home, and of course, her mother was worried when she saw how she looked, and she was rushed up to bed to rest.

Once she made sure Naru was okay, she made a beeline for the Crown Game Center. So focused she was that she didn't see a familiar figure when she turned a corner, and bumped into them.

"Yeesh dumpling head, with how often you do that maybe you need glasses," Mamoru said with a smirk...which promptly died when she returned his smirk with a...well...okay, now he was thinking he might have just poked a sleeping dragon this time.

"Get out of my way," Usagi said, her voice flat and making it clear that getting in her way now...NOT a smart idea.

Mamoru promptly did just that as the girl stomped right past him. "...wow, never knew she could get that angry…" he gulped.

With that little roadblock taken care of, she soon found her way to the arcade (and saying hello to Motoki), she soon found who she was looking for.

"Kensuke." she said when she got close, grabbing his attention "Naru got targeted again."

And with that he was completely serious "Motoki, I need to take the rest of the day off, something serious came up." he said, quickly getting his apron off and walking back out with Usagi as she gave him the details, while along the way, Luna found them, quickly briefing her on the situation as well.

"That was a bold move on their part, forcing Naru into such a contraption." Luna commented quietly.

"Yeah, and I'm gonna make them pay for being bold." Usagi said in anger.

"They'll get what's coming to them, we'll strike tonight." Kensuke said, the other two nodding in agreement.

* * *

The night soon fell and the two of them were standing in an alley near the gym. "I know this is the fastest way, but it still feels like we're about to vandalize a gym...which we kind of are," Kensuke chuckled.

"But only one room," Luna corrected.

"True, makes this a bit easier to do then," Kensuke chuckled.

"I can tell you two one thing at least, if I see Jadeite's smug face, I'm caving it in." Usagi said, cracking her knuckles for emphasis.

"Trust me, you'll get first dibs." Kensuke said as he slipped the Change card into his Buckle and let it wrap around him.

Usagi nodded, before raising her hand high "Moon Prism Power, Make Up!"

"Henshin!" " **Turn Up!"**

* * *

Getting into the place was easy since...well…

"Seriously? They didn't lock the door? Either Jadeite really IS stupid, or this is a trap...and somehow I think it's the former," Blade deadpanned.

"That or he figured it wouldn't matter," Luna supplied.

"Oh yeah, he's always just focused on gathering energy, isn't he?" Sailor Moon nodded as they got into the gym. Once they were in, they made a way directly for the room that Naru had spoke of. It took a bit of searching, but eventually...

"Subtlety really isn't Jadeite's middle name is it?" Blade deadpanned.

"No it is not," Luna and Sailor Moon agreed as all three of them saw the 'Shape Rays'.

"...whelp, time to start smashing," Blade said in a rather cheerful tone as he scanned one of his Rouze cards. " **Slash!** "

It didn't take long for the two to make short work of the pods and the core, as between Sailor Moon's Tiara and the Lizard Undead's power, the room was soon in ruins. When they were done…

"You two again?" came Jadeite's annoyed voice as they turned to see him standing in the doorway, having arrived too late to stop them.

"Surprise! We thought we'd do a bit of redecorating while you were out!" Sailor Moon couldn't help but snark, and Blade snorted at her words.

"Yeah, what she said. Now we're gonna pick up where we left off last time and do a little redecorating… on your FACE!" Blade added. "So what'll it be? You gonna fight us, or are we gonna have to dust ANOTHER Youma you throw at us?"

Jadeite glared at them...before smirking. "I don't believe I will be using a Youma today. No, this time you two can deal with something an ally of ours...acquired," he said. "Come! Ancient Beast!" he called out as a portal appeared, depositing something into the ground...before it shook.

"W-what's happening?!" Sailor Moon gasped in surprise.

"There's something moving in the ground!" Luna said in alarm, right before yelping as she was forced to jump away as a limb came out of the ground and out of the new hole, out came a creature with blue skin, with black armor covered in studs, with rectangular covers on its shoulders. It head was normal, up until you noticed the eyes and nose and drills replacing them, while its hands were large claws shaped like shovels, with its forearms covered in spiked arm guards… and they then noticed the Ouroborus buckle on its waist.

"An Undead!" Blade said in shock as he used his sword to block the claws as it lunged for him "And not one of my suit either! If I'm right this is the 3 of Clubs, Mole Undead."

"Deal with those annoyances," Jadeite said, as he had extracted any remaining energy from the machine. "I will deliver these to our Queen," he said before vanishing.

"Wait!" Sailor Moon tried to stop him, but too late. That and she was forced to dodge when the Undead tried to take her head off with a wide swing.

"Focus on the Undead first!" Blade shouted as he tackled it. However, it quickly pushed him away before it began tunneling into the ground.

"It's getting away!" Luna said, but Blade held up his hand.

"No, it's still here. My pendant is still reacting," he warned. True enough, the Undead soon emerged from the ground again and started taking pot shots at them.

"We need to stop its movements somehow!" Sailor Moon said as the two were back to back, scanning the ground for movement.

"Or at least some way to keep it above ground for a little," Blade frowned.

"Sailor Moon, use the tiara!" Luna said.

"I don't think the Tiara will be able to hit something underground," Sailor Moon countered.

"Not if you use its other ability. Activate it and call out 'Moon Tiara Stardust'!" Luna instructed.

"I don't fully understand but okay!" Sailor Moon said as she took off her tiara and turned it into its ready form. "Moon Tiara...Stardust!" she called out as she threw it. The tiara flew through the air before releasing a burst of magical energy in the form of glowing dust. At that moment, the Mole Undead emerged, ready to strike, but the moment the dust hit it, it let out a groan as its movements started to slow, giving Blade the chance he needed...and stabbed it in the face, drawing sparks from it as it was thrown out of the ground.

"Normally I'd say something about waiting to tell us, but I'm honestly not complaining of the timing!" Blade grinned under his mask, before pulling out his remaining two Rouze Cards. " **Kick! Thunder!** "

"Lightning...Blast!" Blade called out as he flipped in the air and landed the kick onto the Undead's chest which took massive damage, causing it to fall on the ground, its belt snapping open. Acting quickly, Blade went for a card holder at his hip, before pulling out a Common Blank, and threw it at the Undead which was soon absorbed and sealed into the card, which returned to Blade's hand.

The card was indeed the 3 of Clubs, now depicting a blue metallic mole with spinning shovels in place of front paws, the words Screw Mole written beneath the image.

"It's unexpected, but I won't complain." Blade said with a sigh as he put the card in his weapon, just in case he might find a use for it before finding Leangle. "Still...now I know why I felt it odd that one of the other Riders sealed one of my cards…"

"Why is that?" Sailor Moon asked.

"You remember where I said the seals were, right?" Blade checked.

"Yeah, the spades are in Japan, and I think you said the clubs are in...oh…" Sailor Moon blinked as she realized what he was getting at.

"There shouldn't BE a reason for another Rider to be in Japan, when their Undead are in other areas of the world. But...the fact one of them at least are here means their Undead have come here, and with the Mole here, it means something is attracting the Undead to cross entire oceans just to come here," he said with a frown.

"What could be causing that?" Luna asked in worry.

"THAT is the million yen question," Blade said. "The only time the Undead have ever all gathered together was when…" he trailed off and somehow Sailor Moon and Luna knew he'd paled under his helmet. "Oh shit…"

"I'm afraid to ask, but what?" Sailor Moon gulped.

"The only thing that could possibly attract all the Undead...is their master. The 'referee' if you will, of the Battle Royal...the Stone of Sealing…" Blade said as he undid his transformation and they saw the panicked look on his face.

"What is the Stone of Sealing?" Luna asked.

"In a nutshell? It's the vessel let's say God used to oversee the Battle Royal. Where it appears is a signal to the Undead that basically tells them 'Next Battle Royal Here'," Kensuke explained. "So yeah...if that thing is actually in Japan right now, then this country is about to have about 35 unwanted guests real soon…"

"That's… bad." Sailor Moon said, pale, as she let her transformation drop as well and turned back into Usagi.

"And I'm assuming the higher the category, the stronger they are, which means…" Luna trailed off, sweating.

Kensuke nodded, knowing what she was getting at "The Royals are coming… we'll have to hope they'll keep their heads down, or else it's going to be pure chaos in the country." he frowned. "And if that wasn't enough, I honestly have no idea how Jadeite could command an Undead. Sure it was a Category 3, but still…"

"Let's hope he just got lucky. I don't think I want to imagine what the Dark Kingdom could do with Undead under their control," Usagi gulped thickly.

"That makes three of us," Luna gulped thickly as well. They'd only fought low level Undead so far and those alone were well beyond any normal Youma could be. The Dark Kingdom controlling stronger creatures than that...it was too terrifying to consider.

"The only silver lining is that that means the other three Riders are likely on their way too, so we should at least get 3 more allies out of this," Kensuke sighed. "At any rate, we've done what we came here to do. This operation is sunk, so all we can do is wait for the next move."

"Let's hope we'll find the other riders and sailor scouts before things get too dangerous." Usagi said with a slight nervous tone before the three of them snuck back out of the building and headed back to their homes.

* * *

The next couple of days went by relatively peacefully, but one day Usagi woke up a bit earlier than normal, not due to her alarm or Luna or her mom. No, she was woken up by the sound of shouting...from Shingo's room. "What's going on?" she groaned, as she opened his room door, just in time to get a pillow the face. "What was that for?!" she demanded when the pillow fell off, right as she noticed Luna at her feet...and Shingo looking afraid. "...right…" she realized, remembering that Shingo had a slight phobia of cats from when he was a baby. It seemed a cat bit him on the nose and since then he's never QUITE gotten over it. Sure he'd been able to slowly get used to Luna around the house, but he still tended to get...jumpy...when she sometimes got him by surprise. "Come on, Luna. Let's not bother Shingo," Usagi said, picking up the moon cat. "Sorry about that, I guess I didn't lock the door properly," she said.

"I-its fine," Shingo by now had started to calm down. "I was just really surprised to see her when I woke up. Sorry about the pillow."

"You can pay me back with your bacon this morning." Usagi said simply as she went back into her room to change while Shingo sighed.

Minutes later everyone was downstairs for breakfast, with Luna on the floor next to Usagi and lapping up some milk.

"What was the ruckus we heard earlier?" Kenji asked with a raised eyebrow as he drank his coffee.

"Luna wandered in Shingo's room in the night so he got spooked when he woke up." Usagi answered as she munched on her extra bacon. "We really need to work on that. Think the doctors can suggest a cure for cat phobia?"

"I'm getting better," Shingo snorted. "And the books mainly say try to slowly face said fears...which I've been doing...at my own pace."

"I'm sure it helps Luna is so well behaved," Ikuko chuckled as Luna walked over to Shingo, the boy stiffening a bit, but managing to keep his cool, since he was well aware she was already there.

Yeah, it was...a work in progress.

* * *

Later while walking to school, Usagi looked down at Luna who was tagging along. "By the way, why WERE you in Shingo's room this morning?" Usagi couldn't help but ask.

"Well...I've just been so busy with work lately and well...I accidentally went into the wrong room," Luna said.

"Work, huh?" Usagi mused, before gaining a mischievous look. "Been working hard terrorizing the mice?" she teased.

"Very funny, but no," Luna chuckled. "I've been searching for a clue to finding the Moon Princess," she said.

"Moon Princess? Is that the princess we're supposed to be protecting?" Usagi asked.

"Yep, but don't worry too much about that just yet. I'll let you know when I actually find a lead rather than just chase after unconfirmed information," Luna said.

"Alright, I'll leave that to you I guess," Usagi chuckled, not sure what else to say. "Anyway, I gotta go to class. See ya!" she said as she ran into school.

Luna watched her go before going another direction. Her work was far from over after all.

* * *

Meanwhile, Kensuke was for once not in class, as classes for today had been cancelled, apparently, his teacher ended up being a target again, likely from the gym, so she was taking a few days off to rest and recover with her husband doing the same to look after her. With that in mind, he made sure to lock his doors and close his windows as he opened his closet and picked up a crystal ball. "...mental note, ask why the heck we have to use a crystal ball like some kind of fortune teller," he sighed as he placed the ball on a cushion he put on the table. Taking off his pendant, he placed it on top of the ball to which they began to resonate. He then sighed as he remembered the, in his opinion, hammy passcode to activate it "Flying away from the gold to nest in the mountains of the east." With the passcode given, the crystal ball flashed, before showing an image of a man and a woman, Kensuke looking mostly like the man, but he had his hair color from the woman "Hey mom, hey dad." he said with a small wave.

"Son!" his parents, Kazuma and Shiori Inazuma said, very happy to hear from him again. The Crystal Balls could only hold so much energy at one point in time, so constant use was a no. "How have you been?" Shiori asked.

"And how goes the hunt for the Undead?" Kazuma added, a bit of pride creeping into his voice.

"I've been good, and the hunt is going… uniquely, to say the least." Kensuke said sheepishly.

"I don't like the sound of that." Shiori said with a frown.

"You'd be right not to mom." he sighed "I think the Stone of Sealing showed up in Japan, because the other night I fought the 3 of Clubs, Screw Mole. Not just that, a week or two ago, Time Scarab was sealed by someone else."

His parents understandably paled at that "Oh no… it's starting again." Kazuma whispered in shock.

"But that shouldn't be possible. For a new Battle Royal to begin, ALL the Undead must be unsealed," Shiori frowned. "And we know Change Beetle was never unsealed, and I'm sure the same is the case for the other tribes as well, and even then, I doubt Spirit Human would be unsealed."

"That's what I'm hoping too, mom," Kensuke sighed. "Hopefully this is just some fluke, that the stone just happened to be here, and not that a new Battle Royal is starting."

Kazuma sighed "So, anything else?"

"Well…" Kensuke sighed, knowing the next part would be yet another bomb "I'm helping out with the search for the reincarnated Moon Princess and her Sailor Scouts. The Dark Kingdom has also resurfaced and has started sending in Youma to gather energy, most likely for their leader."

"That's not comforting at all," Kazuma frowned. "Needless to say, we're proud to hear that you've been aiding in stopping the Dark Kingdom as well as sealing the Undead. Please let us know if any additional issues come up. We'll try to coordinate with the tribe and hopefully the other tribes as well."

"Right. I'll be sure to keep an eye and ear out for any info...oh, and if possible, think you could have someone ask the the other tribes who may already be here? I'll admit I'm a bit curious about who managed to seal Time Scarab," Kensuke said.

"We'll see what we can do," Shiori nodded. "We love you."

"Love you both too," Kensuke smiled before the image vanished.

* * *

Meanwhile, Luna opened her eyes from the little nap she was taking as she heard the bell and the sound of children bidding each other goodbye. Peering over the part of the gate she had been lying on, she was met with the sight of various kids coming out of the school. She looked for a bit, before she found who she was looking for.

Shingo was walking out of his school wordlessly, and just as he was about to pass the gates, he heard it. A meow. And then his old phobia flared up, and he jolted in surprised fear, causing him to fall on his butt.

Luna sweat dropped at the reaction. She'd purposely avoided any physical contact for now, but in retrospect, maybe appearing out of nowhere really wasn't the best idea. That in mind though, she gave an apologetic meow and went a bit closer so he could see it was just her, but far enough so she wouldn't trigger his phobia.

"Eh? Luna? What are you doing here?" Shingo blinked at the sight of the family's cat.

She simply meowed again, she would have preferred to outright tell him, but who knows how everyone would react to a talking cat?

"Were you waiting for me?" Shingo hazarded a guess, being slightly freaked out at Luna nodding.

Seriously, a cat that understood human speech was weird as hell for him.

"Shingo? Are you ok?" he heard a voice say, making him blush a bit as he turned to one of his classmates, a cute girl with with short brown hair and a ribbon tied into it, Mika Kayama.

"Uh, y-yeah, I'm fine." he said, standing up and dusting himself off "My sister got a cat recently and I guess she followed me to school, she kinda surprised me." he said, trying to play it off while gesturing towards Luna.

"That so?" Mika said, looking towards Luna and smiling before kneeling down and holding out her hand. Luna went closer and licked it a little, causing the girl to giggle. "How cute," she smiled.

"Y-yeah, she is, isn't she?" Shingo said, though it was clear that took a bit of effort, though the bright blush on his face made it clear why he was saying that.

It wasn't long before they were walking home together, Luna following them, though Shingo could tell she was deliberately keeping her distance. Once again more proof that cat was too intelligent to be a normal cat. Shaking his head a little he turned to Mika. "So...do you have a pet?" he asked, hoping to break the ice.

"No, but I've been thinking about what would be good," she said. "In fact, I've been eyeing a particular pet lately."

"That so? What is it?" Shingo asked.

"Why don't I show you? There's a pretty interesting store that opened up recently. Want to see?" she asked.

"Sure," Shingo nodded.

The two kept walking a bit more at that, Luna still keeping at a distance behind them, until eventually they reached what was likely the new pet store Mika was talking about, Pet Shop Perfume… it was a bit… strange for a name.

"Well, ok then." Shingo said with a raised eyebrow as he walked in with his friend, immediately, he noticed how the interior of the shop just smelled so… different from outside.

"Welcome to Pet Shop Perfume." said a woman with rust colored hair that came up to them "I'm the owner of the store. Were you interested about the Chanela?"

"Chanela?" Shingo repeated in confusion.

The owner nodded "A new breed of animal, each Chanela has its own unique scent, and you don't even need to feed them."

Shingo blinked at the description "Uh… but doesn't every living being need to eat to survive though?"

"I suppose I should amend that. It's not that they don't need to eat, but rather, feeding them is unnecessary. They are able to live off of a regular dose of sunlight," the owner explained.

Shingo seemed skeptical, but he was still curious, so he took a closer look at one of them. "These are pretty cute," he admitted, but right as he looked at one of the chanela, it looked back at him with its large rabbit-like eyes, and when their eyes met, its eyes began to glow, something he noticed, but before he could even think much about it...he started feeling...woozy, unfocused. Was this chanela always so...cute? He wanted to have it..no..he NEEDED to have it. "I'll buy this chanela." With that he opened the cage and took the little creature out. Likewise, Mika came back with one of her own...and with an unfocused expression as well.

"I see, well you're in luck, we give them away for free to young children like you." the owner said with a smirk, not that either of them paid attention to it.

"Thank you." the two said in monotone, before walking out of the pet shop, not even paying attention to Luna as they just started to walk back home.

Luna frowned at the sight, and tried to get their attention...no reaction. If it was just that she'd have chalked it up to them being more focused on their new pets. But no, they were ignoring everything, from a puppy who was looking for attention to a little girl who'd tripped and fallen (Luna had to cheer her up till her mom came). Suffice to say she was VERY suspicious now. Compulsive behavior? Sudden change in personality? Heck, even seemingly fixation on those admittedly cute creatures was well beyond what should be normal...or healthy, if the almost obsessive attention they were giving the chanelas was any indication. Yep, it seems she may have just stumbled upon the Dark Kingdom's next scheme. She'd make sure to tell Usagi and Kensuke first chance she got...yeah, she really needed to work on those communicators.

With that in mind, she soon broke away from them (not that either of the kids noticed, further cementing the idea that they were being manipulated in her mind), she soon made her way to the Game Center Crown, and waited. Night began to fall, and before long it was closing time for the arcade, so she waited for a certain rider to come out, letting out a loud meow to draw his attention.

"Luna?" Kensuke blinked, not expecting to see the cat here.

"Oh? Is that cat yours? It's been coming around the arcade every now and then," Motoki said in surprise from behind him.

"That so? And no, Luna is Usagi's cat," Kensuke said. "She likes to wander around is all."

"Okay then," Motoki nodded. "Anyway, I gotta go, so please lock up for me."

"Gotcha," Kensuke nodded. Once Motoki was gone… "This is a surprise. It's not everyday you want to talk to me without Usagi."

"It's a bit related to Usagi though. Let's head inside first, there's something about the arcade even YOU don't know about." Luna said as she walked inside, Kensuke blinking before following her in and locking up.

"Ok, so what's the big secret?" Kensuke asked as Luna jumped onto one of the Sailor V cabinets. Before he could say anything, she began pressing buttons and shifting the joystick, and after a few moments, the words 'GAME ENDLESS' appeared on the screen. When it did, a light began to shine from between the game Luna was operating and the game next to it, to which he realized the two game cabinets and the ones behind them were moving apart, to which he went to the side and saw that underneath the cabinets was an opening with a staircase leading down. Oh and the stairs were almost translucent with no visible staircase leading into what looked almost like a starfield.

He was silent for a good moment, before looking at Luna "How long has this been here?"

"Let's just say before you started working here." Luna said cryptically as she started going down the staircase, with Kensuke following her while being freaked out about nearly invisible stairs.

Once they got to the end, they arrived at what could best be described as a command center from a sci-fi movie. They were on a platform who knows how deep down, four pillars at the edges and a computer that was WAY beyond anything available to normal people. In fact, if he'd hazard a guess… "Is this...old world technology?" he asked. He was no stranger to wonders made from salvaging technology from before the fall. His buckle was made with the help of such technology. "And from the Silver Millenium at that."

"Correct." Luna answered.

"Well...it's a very impressive base then. Any reason you never showed it to us before?"

"Honestly? There was never a need," Luna chuckled.

"Fair enough, so why did you bring me here?" Kensuke asked, before grabbing a dark blue wristwatch with a gold spade symbol on top that Luna tossed him.

"A communicator I made for you, it'll let you talk with Usagi more easily, I'm also almost done with communicators for the other riders if we can make them our close allies." Luna explained before hoping up to the computer. "As well, I believe I may have found another Dark Kingdom scheme… and they targeted Usagi's little brother."

"I see…" Kensuke frowned. "I hope it's just a coincidence that people close to Usagi seem to be getting targeted by the Dark Kingdom. At any rate, what is the scheme this time?"

"Have you ever heard of a creature called a 'Chanela'?" Luna asked.

"Not to my knowledge," Kensuke said.

"Unsurprising," Luna said as she typed in some keys, and images of the creatures appeared. "No known database matches these and they're apparently ONLY sold in Pet Shop Perfume, since no other pet shops have it."

"Well, if that's not a big bright neon sign for 'Obvious Plot' I don't what is." Kensuke said dryly as he looked at the creatures "Also, Change Beetle wants to tear them to pieces for some reason."

"That's… concerning in regards to you actually." Luna said hesitantly.

"Yeah, but it's mostly because he's my partner and I can basically feel his emotions." Kensuke added with a shrug. "Its the key part of the Rider system. The armor work by basically allowing us to temporarily merge with the Undead that's powering the belt, so they can influence us and we can influence them."

"That's...honestly pretty worrying," Luna frowned, having seen how violent the Undead could be.

"Don't worry about it. All of us were trained for this. We won't be influenced so easily," Kensuke said reassuringly. "Anyway, so what's the game plan to tackle this scheme?"

"Try to seperate Shingo from his Chanela for one, he seemed almost obsessed with it. After that, we'll need to take care of the pet store, no doubt the owner is a Youma." Luna said.

"You might want to get back home to inform Usagi then." Kensuke told her helpfully.

"Good point. It's likely we'll be doing this operation tomorrow." Luna said with a nod as the two left the command center, which closed back up after the got off the stairs.

* * *

Meanwhile, Usagi was getting VERY worried as she sat on her bed. Ever since Shingo came home with his new pet, all he seemed to care about was the chanela. Sure at first she figured it was just someone liking something new….but it was like he was ignoring everything. And by everything, she meant he'd left dinner before properly eating, and when she peered into his room earlier, all he was doing was leaning on his desk and admiring the small creature. Suffice to say, this was fishy as heck.

"I wonder where Luna went…" she frowned. She couldn't exactly act without confirming facts, and on top of that, if she went and tried to take the chanela away on a mere hunch, and it turned out she was over thinking...well...that would be very bad…

"Sorry I'm late," Luna said as she crawled in through the open window.

"Ah, welcome back. Hey, Shingo got this really tiny pet earlier." Usagi started, but at the serious look Luna gave her, she stopped, waiting for the cat to explain.

"His new pet is a Dark Kingdom scheme." was all Luna had to say for Usagi to look pissed.

"I'm going to kick Jadeite's ass." she muttered under her breath.

"You'll get your chance soon enough. But first we need to get that chanela away from Shingo. Then we should take out the Youma that is at the Pet Shop. Once we deal with it, the chanela should become harmless if not destroyed," Luna said.

"You know...is it just me or have we been finding them so much because they're really lousy at being discreet. Seriously, I bet mom and dad would realize something is wrong by tomorrow morning latest," Usagi sighed. The personality changes were too drastic to be hidden really.

"They'll probably try to hospitalize your brother." Luna muttered, seeing that as a definite possibility.

"Let's aim to get this done before it gets that bad," Usagi sighed.

"Speaking of which…here," Luna said, producing a wrist watch that was pink in color and had the symbol of a crescent moon. "It's a communicator. I gave one to Kensuke earlier, so now we can stay in contact more easily and coordinate if any of us find a Dark Kingdom plot or even an Undead."

Usagi accepted it, putting it around her wrist before clicking it open "So… how does this work?"

She heard a voice from the other side mutter something before the voice became clearer "Usagi? That you?"

"Ah, hey Kensuke, Luna just briefed me and gave me a communicator." Usagi told him, deciding to get right down to business.

"Ah, right, well, like she probably told you, those Chanela things are bad news, especially since Change Beetle wants to rip them to shreds. I stopped by the pet store on my way home and just standing in the window he was practically begging for a chance to cut loose. Whatever these things are, they're so 'unnatural', that the Undead can only see them as enemies." he explained.

"Wow, they must be REALLY bad if even the Undead want them gone," Usagi blinked. "Guess we all know what the plan is again. So usual plan?"

"We attack at night, yes," Kensuke nodded, meaning they had about 24 hours to prepare. With that, the two soon ended the call and went to bed. They had another big day ahead of them.

* * *

The next morning…

"Shingo! Shingo! You're going to be late if this keeps up!" Usagi called, knocking on her brother's door. No response. "Alright, I'm coming in!" she said as she opened the door...and stopped short. Shingo was just leaning on his desk, staring at the chanela adoringly...and he looked like he had literally stayed like that all night. "Shingo, it's time for school!" she said.

"Don't care," was the reply. "I don't feel like going to school today…" Shingo said in a half focused and dreamy tone.

NOW Usagi was very worried. However, she also knew that she couldn't wait for long or she'd be late. That in mind… "Mom, Dad, something's wrong with Shingo. He isn't leaving his room, and all he's doing is staring at the chanela he got," she told her parents when she came down.

"That...doesn't sound right," Ikuko frowned worriedly. "I'll go talk to him after this. You two need to get going."

"Right. But let us know if anything comes up or you need help," Kenji said with a worried frown, while Usagi nodded at her mother's words. With that, she quickly grabbed her lunch, and with a determined look, went out the house. She was more determined than ever to end things tonight. However, when she arrived at school...

"...okay, this is just scary…" Usagi couldn't help but say, as she walked into her classroom...and found several of her classmates fawning over several chanela. It seemed the shop worked fast.

"Tell me about it. Some of the others tried to make me buy some but they just felt too weird for me." Naru added with a grimace.

"Having skepticism is good in this day and age." Umino said as he had overheard them.

"Especially with all the weird stuff happening around lately." Usagi added, causing the other two to nod in agreement.

Their thoughts soon gained more weight when class started, and as usual everyone had to put away anything other than their class supplies. However, the class was barely 10 minutes in, when several girls let out shouts, getting up from their desks and going for their chanelas.

"What do you all think you're doing?! We're in the middle of class!" Ms. Sakurada demanded angrily as she walked over to them. "I'm afraid I'm going to have to confiscate them," she said. However…

"No!" the girl she was about to confiscate the chanela, and shoved her back, the force actually hard enough that she tumbled back into several desks and chairs, knocking them over.

"Ms. Sakurada! Are you alright?!" Umino was the first to say in alarm, but she just lay there against one of the overturned tables.

"Someone call the nurse!" Usagi shouted when they realized she wasn't moving. At the same time, Naru glared at the girl.

"What the heck were you thinking?! I get you like your new pets but isn't this too much?!" Naru demanded.

"Shut up, I'm going home!" the girl who had shoved Ms. Sakurada said, taking out the chanela and then going out of the classroom.

"Me too!"

"Me too!"

Several other girls who had chanela with them did the same, not the least bit caring about what had just happened.

"Just forget about those idiots, just get the nurse here!" Usagi said towards the general class, and was relieved when Umino scrambled out and ran towards the nurse's office.

* * *

"This is insane!" Naru practically shouted as she and Usagi were talking under a tree in the school grounds. "What is happening to this city?! Monsters are attacking, and people are acting like someone replaced them with something else! It's like what happened to Umino with the fortune teller!" she shouted, and in her frustration, kicked the tree...slight mistake.

"I know what you mean, but I don't think the tree knows what to do…" Usagi said lamely as her best friend was now nursing her foot.

"At least there's superheroes running around trying to fix things." Naru added after she was done holding her foot in pain.

"Yeah, and who knows? Maybe there's going to be more like them." Usagi said, her tone hopeful.

She REALLY wished she could tell Naru, but as it stood, that may no be the best idea right now. Whatever the case, if there wasn't an urgency to deal with this before, it was becoming more and more apparent by the second.

* * *

"I know these aren't legit businesses, but I STILL kinda feel like a vandal," Kensuke couldn't help but say as they were currently in front of Pet Shop Perfume.

"But we have to. This is even more serious than before," Usagi frowned. Earlier after class she'd gone home, but when she did well...her mother was hysterical as during the day after an unsuccessful attempt to get Shingo to leave his room or part with his new pet...well...he'd left the house sometime in the day, possibly when she'd gone out to grab some groceries. Suffice to say, if past experience taught Usagi anything, Shingo had been called by the Youma. She was going to keep hitting it with her Tiara now till it stayed dead.

"Well then, time for our night jobs," Kensuke joked, before putting on his belt.

"Henshin!" " **Turn Up!** "

"Moon Prism Power, Make Up!"

* * *

Meanwhile, inside the pet shop, the owner was chuckling, standing before her all the people that had been entranced by the Chanela. Waving her hands, several more chanela soon jumped down. "You will be spreading these chanela throughout the city. Understood?"

"Yeah!" Everyone gathered, including Shingo and some of Usagi's classmates cheered. However…

"Frill-necked lizards, Mexican salamanders, and human-faced fish are all mad!" a voice called out, as a pair of figures appeared in the doorway. "They are mad, saying that they are not toys! I'm the pretty sailor scout of love and justice, Sailor Moon!"

The second figure, instead of continuing, turned to the one who spoke slowly "Where the hell did you come up with that one?"

That took the wind out of her sails a bit. "Honestly? I kinda made that up on the fly," Sailor Moon admitted.

Blade looked at her for a moment, before face palming, not sure whether to be impressed she thought that up so quickly or mortified she went for it anyway. "Ugh...she's Sailor Moon, I'm Kamen Rider Blade, and we're gonna kick your ass seven ways to Sunday, so bring it, Youma!"

"Am I supposed to be impressed?" the Youma in disguise asked dryly.

"No, you're supposed to die." Sailor Moon said seriously.

"Why you…" she growled, before her form shifted, becoming blue and scaly while her eyes turned green and her body became larger, ripping out of her clothes, while her nails grew into claws and her teeth became fangs. When it was done, what was left in her place was a reptilian Youma (complete with a long scaly tail) that was a lot more monstrous than the previous Youma they'd fought.

"Put some clothes on dammit, there's kids here even." Blade deadpanned. Not that there was anything to actually see, but still, it was a matter of decency in his opinion. Even the Undead at least looked like they were wearing some kind of clothing.

All the Youma did in response was glare at them, eyes glowing...before her victims soon changed, becoming similar to her and were now going for them.

"...of course…" the three of them (Luna included) groaned at the sight of the now reptilian civilians going after them. However…

"Yaaaah!" Blade and Sailor Moon didn't waste time as they immediately went for the Youma. They'd learned by now that to beat the victims without harming them...break the Youma's concentration. As such, they fully expected the victims to go back to normal when their feet plowed into the Youma's face, sending her tumbling back in pain. However…

"Whoa!" Sailor Moon gasped as Shingo took a swing at her, same for Blade when others tried.

"Hell of a time for them to actually NOT need to be constantly focused to control their slaves," Blade snarled as the two were forced to go deeper into the shop.

"Okay, need a new plan," Sailor Moon frowned.

"Use the Stardust again. It can also purify those affected by evil energy!" Luna said.

"You couldn't have told us that the last two times we had mind controlled slaves to deal with?" the two of them deadpanned at the cat. Luna had the decency to blush at that.

"Okay, new plan. We get them somewhere where they're all boxed in, THEN you use the Stardust," Blade said, earning a nod from Sailor Moon as they purposely ran into a tighter corridor, while knocking over some boxes to stop the mob.

"Chance! Moon Tiara...Stardust!" Sailor Moon called out, using the move, spreading the magic dust over the mob, and soon they'd all turned to normal, all looking confused as heck, while the chanelas fell to the ground, looking utterly confused as well.

"Okay, that takes care of the unwitting mooks. Now where's the…" Blade started before the Youma lunged for them.

"There it is!" Sailor Moon managed to say before they dodged.

"Over here!" Luna called, having found a backdoor.

"Right!" both of them nodded before the two of them ran out after Luna, the Youma following after them.

"Take this!" both of them shouted, as Sailor Moon threw her tiara and Blade scanned the Thunder card, the electrified Tiara hitting the Youma dead on the chest and soon flew back to Sailor Moon. However, unlike before, the Youma was clearly badly damaged, but it's injuries were slowly healing.

"Hey, shouldn't that work normally?!" Sailor Moon demanded.

"No way, it's like Recovery Camel!" Blade gasped in surprise, remembering one of the more well known Undead due to its no doubt troublesome ability.

"Any suggestions, Luna?" Sailor Moon quickly asked.

"This type of Youma, while rare, usually has a weak point. If you can find it, we can beat it!" Luna reported.

"Hit its weak point. Got it!" both of them nodded. This was going to be just like a video game then. The only problem was...they had no idea where to hit. With that in mind though, they started attacking almost wildly.

" **Slash!** " the rouser called out as the Slash Lizard card was used and Blade started hacking off parts which grew back, while Sailor Moon threw her tiara several times, no hits.

Eventually the Youma got annoyed and lashed out with its tail, wrapping around Sailor Moon's neck, to which Blade quickly tried to help her, but the Youma blocked his attacks.

"Come on…!" Sailor Moon grunted, trying to get out...however that's when she noticed her tiara glow, and a spot at the base of the Youma's tail suddenly lighting up. "Is that…?" she blinked, before narrowing her eyes and taking off her tiara one more time. "Moon Tiara Action!" she called out, throwing it at the base of the tail, right as Blade decided to use his new card.

" **Screw!** " the rouser called out, before delivering a strong screw punch to the Youma's chest, causing it to let go of Sailor Moon, right as the tiara hit the base of her tail. The effect was instant as the Youma shouted in pain, while also being launched across the street, her body crumbling before she even finished her flight.

"And that's that." Sailor Moon said before high fiving Blade.

"I knew it!" shouted a voice, which made Sailor Moon jump and hide behind Blade as she realised it was her brother who was running out of the store towards them "You're those two superheroes people have been talking about aren't you?" he asked in awe as he got closer.

"Yeah...that's us," Blade blinked under his helmet. "Are you alright, citizen?" he said, trying to sound more heroic...though inwardly he winced at how much he sounded like a comic superhero.

"Yeah! Though… I don't really know what happened." Shingo said with a frown, before trying to look around Blade "Why is she hiding behind you?"

"She's shy around new people." Blade said simply, despite the slight shove Sailor Moon gave into his back with her elbow. He got another one when he added, "She's had it rough before becoming a superhero."

"Wow...some people can be real jerks," Shingo nodded in sympathy.

"Yeah, that's a universal truth." Blade said with a nod "Anyway, you should probably get back home now, your parents are probably worried sick about you."

"You're probably right," Shingo nodded...before pulling out a notepad from his pocket. "But can I have your autographs first?" he was grinning now.

"Oh..uh...sure?" Blade blinked before taking the notepad and writing an improvised autograph, even adding a rough picture of Change Beetle as he was depicted on his Rouze Card at the end. Once he was done, he passed it over his shoulder to Sailor Moon, who wrote in her own signature, trying to make it different from her normal handwriting, and added in a doodle of a crescent moon. Once she was done, she quickly gave it back to Shingo.

"Thank you," he grinned. "And I really think it's cool what you both do. Especially you, Sailor Moon. You had to deal with the jerks of people and you STILL chose to be a hero. Don't worry, you're doing great," he said before running off.

Blade waited until Shingo was out of sight before chuckling "Well, guess your little brother supports you."

"Yeah… guess he does." Sailor Moon said with a dry look, mostly since the story they gave him was the furthest from the truth. "And what was that about 'rough time'?" she deadpanned.

"Well, I had to give a reason for you being 'shy', right?" Blade countered.

"Let's just go home," Sailor Moon groaned.

"Well, all's well ends well I guess," Luna chuckled at the little exchange.

* * *

 **And there's the chapter!**

 **Yeahp, two episodes instead of just one.**

 **Also, we're raising the brain level on, well, EVERY character, villains included, so yeah, Jadeite can make a decent disguise here, we also have more realistic reactions, such as that snippet of Ikuko being in hysterics because her son just disappeared.**

 **Seriously, there's a LOT of glaring issues in the original show, so we're fixing everything as we find it.**

 **Anyway, see ya next time!**


	5. Card 5

**And a new one!**

 **Sorry this one took longer, we tried to work on another story, but felt blocked in it, so we switched gears to this one.**

 **Anyway, another instance of double episode chapter, so enjoy.**

* * *

The sound of gentle piano music filled the air, as Usagi and Naru (and Luna) were enjoying the music in the latter's room. "Naru, this is a good song," Usagi said softly, not wanting to break the magic that the music's calming tone had.

"Isn't it? That's why I highly recommend it," Naru smiled.

"This is Jazz, right? It's really calming," Usagi said.

"I know, right?" Naru nodded, while Usagi picked up the CD case.

"Hm...so this was composed by Yusuke Amade," Usagi mused. She may not have been a big fan of the music industry, but even she'd never heard the name before.

"Isn't he great? He's probably a wonderful and mature man," Naru said dreamily, her face blushing a bit. "I'd like to go out with him."

Usagi laughed a little bit at that "He might be too old for you though for all you know." she said, before smiling "Though… if we're talking about mature guys…" she trailed off with a blush.

"Kensuke obviously." Naru said knowingly with a light grin.

"I never said that!" Usagi said frantically.

"You didn't have to~" Naru teased, and couldn't help but laugh as her best friend frantically, and very badly, tried to disprove her.

Where she was curled up, Luna had to fight hard not to snicker at what she was seeing.

* * *

A few hours or so later had Usagi outside of Osa-P, umbrella in hand. "It sure is pouring today. Can't believe it's STILL raining so heavily," Usagi frowned.

"I know they say spring showers are long, but this is crazy," Naru agreed.

"Oh well, I guess it can't be helped. I can't exactly stay over just because of some rain," Usagi sighed as she and Luna walked away a bit. "I'll see you tomorrow morning."

"Have a safe trip home," Naru said as she waved and watched her friend leave, only going back in once she was out of sight.

Once Usagi and Luna were far away enough…

"Talk about a bad day to be out, huh?" Usagi couldn't help but say.

"Yeah, but at least the night air feels good after the rain," Luna said, right as they were passing the game center, which was still open.

"Hm...maybe I'll play a little first," Usagi mused as she looked at the poster for the Sailor V game.

"Isn't it a little late for that?" Luna asked in deadpan.

"I can just tell my parents I stopped to chat with Kensuke, besides, it's not really a lie." Usagi said as she waved at Kensuke, whom was currently sweeping the floors and waved back at her.

However, before anything else could happen, Luna noticed a man running down the street...headed right for… "Watch out!" she shouted, but too late, as the man ran into Usagi, both of them tumbling to the ground.

Usagi shook her head after falling, propping herself up… and noticing the state of her outfit "Oh come on!" she groaned "At least I wasn't wearing full white." she added while muttering and getting back up.

"Who has the balls to attack my friend!?" Kensuke shouted as he ran out of the arcade… swinging a broom around like a weapon.

The man got to his knees...then saw the two glaring at him before screaming in fear and going into a crouch with his hands over his head. "H-Help me! Don't kill me!" he shouted in absolute terror, much to the confusion of the three who sweat dropped at the rather...extreme...response.

"Um… we weren't going to kill you mister." Usagi reassured the man, despite her confusion, making him look back up at them.

A few minutes later…

"Seriously? You're being targeted?" Usagi gasped as currently she, Kensuke (after getting permission to leave a little early), Luna, and the strange man were all walking together, Kensuke having gotten an extra umbrella for the man.

"Yeah, and you both probably won't believe me but…" he trailed off.

"You'd be surprised at what we can believe lately," Kensuke couldn't help but say dryly.

"Well...alright. Truth is, the thing that's after me...is a monster," he said.

"A monster?!" Usagi gasped.

"Yeah…" he frowned, remembering how he'd met the monster and since then it had been stalking him. Eventually… "But honestly...with how crazy it was, it was probably just my imagination…" he sighed, before looking at them with an apologetic smile. "Sorry for making you listen to such a silly story," he chuckled awkwardly before stopping and attempting to give Kensuke the umbrella back. "Here is fine."

"Huh?" Usagi blinked in surprise.

"I've got a job at the music club up ahead," the man explained.

Usagi looked like she wanted to ask more but…

"That monster you thought you saw...what did it look like?" Kensuke asked.

"You actually want to know?" the man blinked.

"Like I said, you'd be surprised what we can believe," Kensuke said flatly.

"Well...okay. I remember seeing a LOT of bats before that creature attacked, but I'm also positive that I saw a woman before the bats appeared," he said. "And that's about it, really. Oh, that reminds me, dry cleaning money," he said as he rummaged around his pockets. "Sorry, I don't have any money on me right now, but please, call me at a later date and I'll be sure to compensate for the trouble I've caused," he said, giving them both his business card.

Usagi looked at the card she got. "Yusuke...Amade?" she blinked...before it clicked in her mind. However by then he'd already run off. "Huh...could he be the same Yusuke Amade from the CD?" she blinked.

"That's not really important right now," Luna pointed out.

"She's right, from the looks of it he's being targeted by a Youma," Kensuke said. "...which is actually not so bad, since when he said bats I honestly for a second thought the Bat Undead was after him for some reason."

"What power does that one have?" Usagi asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Scope, meaning it gives a rider better accuracy when it's card is rouzed, but it also means the Undead itself is essentially a sniper." Kensuke explained as they started following after the man.

It didn't take them too long to reach what they assumed to be the music club "Looks like the place."

"We have to make sure the Youma isn't in there with him." Usagi said with a nod.

"Indeed… though I don't think they let underage people in." Luna said as she glanced at Usagi.

"Not a problem," Usagi grinned...and pulled out her Disguise Pen.

"...that works," Kensuke and Luna nodded.

It wasn't long before they were in front of the Club, and without any hesitation, "Moon Power, turn me into a cool grown-up musician!" she called out, and in a flash of light she'd once again changed.

The result made Kensuke and Luna stare at her for a good long moment, because… "That's… too much skin." Kensuke said, glancing away with a faint blush.

Usagi blinked at that, before looking down at herself. She was wearing a short white top that… honestly just barely covered her chest, along with a short black skirt, a pair of purple stockings with what she assumed was a garterbelt peeking below her skirt and clipping onto them, a red jacket over her shoulders, a pair of red heels, her hair now green, straight and reaching down to the small of her back with a few red stripes at the front… and she was showing off a LOT of skin.

She blushed at that, trying to close up the jacket, but to no avail, before grabbing the pen "Gimme a second." she muttered, and used it again, this time with a bit more precision in her words, and now… well, at the very least her stomach wasn't exposed anymore and the jacket could close up.

"Better," Kensuke nodded, before taking the pen. "Better use this too so he doesn't recognize me. Any suggestions?"

"How about a jazz connoisseur?" Usagi suggested, remembering that Amade was a jazz musician.

"That works," Kensuke nodded. "Moon Power, turn me into a male jazz connoisseur!" he said, as he was covered in the light and when it was done, his outfit had also changed. His outfit was more like a tuxedo with a necktie, a pair of sunglasses, and a bowler hat on his head. He stopped as he looked himself over, before raising an eyebrow "I look like one of the Blues Brothers. Oh well, considering you look like a punk rock singer, I guess this works." he said with a sigh, grabbing the hat to look it over, and blinking when he saw the rim of the hat glint in the light "What is it with the pen and giving me hidden weaponry?"

"Maybe its reading off your abilities and skills?" Luna offered with a shrug. "Perhaps it realizes you are a warrior and acts accordingly."

"...eh, fair enough," Kensuke shrugged. "Guess we should go in now."

A few moments later had them sitting inside the club, though they now had a bag with them, one where Luna was in as they had used the pen one more time to get that for Luna to use. Currently they were just keeping an eye on Amade, while enjoying the music...and munching on some snacks as when the waiter came over, Kensuke had been sure to quickly order some water and snacks.

"Well, he's definitely got talent." Kensuke mused with a light grin.

"Yeah, me and Naru were listening to one of his CDs earlier." Usagi added.

"So that's why you know his name, he's gotta be pretty famous then… maybe that's why the Youma is after him?" Kensuke wondered.

"I dunno about famous, since Naru didn't even know what he looked like, but yeah. He must have something if a Youma is after him," Usagi mused.

"At any rate, we can only wait and see how this goes," Kensuke mused. "...come to think of it...what are you going to tell your parents?"

Usagi blinked before paling slightly "Uh… think they'll accept I was super tired and you let me sleep over?"

"That depends. Is your father the overprotective type?" Kensuke said flatly.

"Uh...kinda?" Usagi sweatdropped.

"...try to think of a better excuse. I like living," he responded dryly.

However, before they could continue on that line of thought…

"Uh...guys?" Luna whispered, and true enough they realized that the music had stopped...and Amade wasn't there anymore.

The two blinked awkwardly, before quickly scrambling to see if they could find him.

* * *

Looking through the club, they didn't find any sign of him...till they heard something that shouldn't have been there. It was the chittering of a few bats.

"Those are…!" Usagi gasped.

"They're probably from the Youma. We'd better follow them!" Luna said, earning nods of agreement as they all tailed after the bats. They soon went out a fire escape and were going downward until they could see a parking lot, just in time to see Amade on the ground, a woman with a swarm of bats flying around her as she picked up a cassette that had fallen to the ground.

"I think it's safe to say we found the Youma...and it found Amade," Kensuke frowned, already reaching for his buckle. However…

"Mister!" Usagi shouted in worry without thinking...and managing to catch the Youma's attention.

"Need to work on her situational awareness." Kensuke muttered to himself, before grabbing his hat "But first..!" he mumbled, before throwing the hat right at the disguised Youma, managing to hit her in the cheek and leaving a cut on her skin as she glared at him.

However, instead of retaliating, the Youma instead sprout wings and shifted into her true form...which honestly gaven Kensuke the mental image of a vampire of some kind, before she leaped away and flew out of the area. Acting quickly, the three of them quickly jumped down, and ran towards Amade.

"Hey, you okay?" Kensuke asked.

"M-My tape…!" he groaned as Usagi looked to the side and noticed an empty cassette casing with a note that said 'Waltz for Akiko'.

"Why would the Youma steal a tape?" Kensuke wondered as the disguise magic from the pen finally wore off, not that Amade noticed, too focused on the loss of his tape.

"I don't know, but that Youma must want to do something wicked using that tape," Luna said, before quickly taking on the role of a normal cat now that Amade was starting to focus again.

The two quickly made sure he was okay, but his mind was fully focused on the tape so...a few minutes later had them tearing through the streets inside a car, Amade driving like crazy as he was hot on the trail of the Youma (based on the direction they pointed him at).

"Jeez, good thing the roads are pretty much empty at night." Kensuke said with a sweatdrop at how much the man was tearing up the road.

"H-Hey, mister! You're driving like a maniac!" Usagi said in fear while Luna clung to the seat, fur standing on end.

"I won't let anyone have that tape! Not anyone!" Amade said, eyes fully focused. "Not even if its a monster!"

"What the heck is on that tape?!" Kensuke finally asked/shouted in exasperation. If he was going to risk death by car crash, he'd like to at least know what they were risking death for.

"That wasn't just an ordinary demo tape," Amade said.

"You made that for Ms. Akiko, right?" Usagi said with a knowing smile.

Apparently she hit the nail on the head as Amade blushed brightly. "H-How did you know that?" he asked, his voice actually becoming a bit more...squeaky.

"I might not look it, but I'm pretty mature too," Usagi grinned.

"That and with a title like 'Waltz for Akiko'...yeah, in retrospect it's pretty obvious," Kensuke added.

"It's only a crush," Amade said. "I know it must be funny at this age…"

"Not really. Lots of people find love at various ages," Kensuke said.

"He's right, age has nothing to do with it! Love is love!" Usagi nodded in agreement, Luna meowing her own agreement too.

"Speaking of which...why ARE you two following me after that monster anyway?" Amade asked.

"Well, can't just let it do whatever it wants right?" Kensuke said, glancing away, knowing that was a shitty excuse, but it was all he had.

"That's right, we're on the side of those in love and on the side of justice," Usagi said, Luna and Kensuke sweat dropping at the choice of wording.

"Right, I get it!" Amade said with a smile, causing the sweat drops to grow bigger.

With the rain stopping, it was easier to see the Youma, as Kensuke and Usagi helped navigate by keeping an eye out for the Youma. It wasn't long before they reached the location the Youma had landed, a studio called 'JAM Records'.

"Are you sure this is the place?" Amade asked.

"No doubt about it," Kensuke nodded.

"...this is bad. Akiko and the others are inside," Amade said, eyes widening in horror.

"No time to waste then!" Usagi said as they ran as fast as they could.

When they reached a room where they could hear the chittering of bats, they saw a woman with red hair, no doubt the Youma, seeing as she was the only one awake while everyone was asleep. They also noticed the Youma was about to load the cassette into one of the machines. Of course, before they could think of a plan…

"Akiko!" Amade shouted as he threw the door open, drawing the Youma's attention. Fortunately, Luna acted quickly and with a hiss lunged for the Youma, knocking the cassette out of her hand, to which it slid on the floor, right into Usagi's waiting hand.

"Stop right there!" Usagi demanded.

"You…" the Youma growled before facing them, the bats soon gathering as she revealed her true form, which again, reminded them of a vampire of some kind. "Give me back the tape!"

"Huh?" Amade blinked at the odd statement...before he looked at the tape. "Wait...that's not my tape!" he said in surprise.

"Huh?" Usagi blinked.

"Then why the hell were we after it then?!" Kensuke snapped at that.

"How could I know it was the wrong one?! Akiko herself gave it to me!" Amade snapped back.

Any further arguments were cut off when…

"Hit the deck!" Usagi shouted as the Youma extended its claws, intending to impale them, but she managed to push them out of the way.

"Thanks for the save, Usagi," Kensuke groaned.

"Don't mention it," Usagi sighed. However, by the time they recovered, the Youma had her hands on Akiko, claws extended threateningly.

"Hand over the tape, or she dies," the Youma threatened.

"Well that's just dirty," Kensuke growled, seeing as they didn't really have many options now.

"Akiko!" Amade said in worry.

"Yu!" Akiko said in response.

"Alright!" Usagi shouted. "You can have the stupid thing!" she said...but not before glancing at Luna who nodded, Kensuke noticing the gesture and realizing what they were going for. At that, Usagi threw the cassette, the Youma's attention on it. When that happened…

"Akiko!" Amade shouted, right as Luna acted, and in a blur of movement, he got Akiko to safety, while Luna got the tape. And for good measure, once both were safe, and the Youma confused, Kensuke shoulder checked her away. Then to add insult to injury, once Luna was on the ground, she promptly smashed the tape with her paw.

"Its over!" Luna said, glaring at the Youma who was just recovering, and just saw what she'd done.

The response she got was for the Youma to let out an ear piercing shriek, before breaking through a window, trying to escape.

Kensuke and Usagi looked at the retreating Youma, before looking down from the broken window.

At least Amade and Akiko weren't in view of them for this… considering the two youths just jumped out the window with their transformation items at the ready.

"Henshin!" " **Turn Up!"**

"Moon Prism Power, Make Up!"

Landing was… surprisingly easy, as Sailor Moon landed on a street lamp and then jumped onto a roof, while Blade landed on the Blue Spader as it sped under him from out of nowhere, the bike revealing its true form when he landed on it.

"Let's go! We got a Youma to take out!" Blade said, earning a nod from Sailor Moon as she jumped down and landed on the back of the Blue Spader, as Blade gunned the engine, the two taking off after the Youma.

"By the way, is this a new bike?" Sailor Moon asked as they rode, having not seen the bike transform.

"Nope, it's my only bike. Don't ask. All I know is that this was modified using the same tech in the Rouzers and Buckles," Blade said.

"Huh… that's neat." she said, before they continued to speed off.

* * *

Minutes later, the Youma landed down in a stadium, looking around "I seems I lost them." she said, a grimace on her face "I can't show my face to Jadeite again with the tape destroyed. Curse that cat!"

However, any further thoughts were put on hold when she suddenly heard the sound of electricity sparking and thundering, and for some reason...it was getting closer. In fact, if she was right it was coming from...right behind her. She quickly turned around, just in time to see a motorbike wreathed in lightning clear the wall of the stadium, and crashing right into her, sending her flying into a wall.

"Using music for evil, such a cruel thing makes the father of music, Bach, angry!" Sailor Moon started.

"Using a hostage to further your plans just makes everyone else angry as well." Blade added.

"In the name of the Moon…"

"And of the Azure Dragon…"

"We'll punish you!"

The Youma glared as she pried herself out of the wall. "Again...again someone keeps getting in the way!" she roared, before spreading her wings, and out came a blast of high frequency sound.

The two of them (and Luna), dodged the attacks several times. Sure the attacks were easy to avoid, but the Youma was near constantly sending it out, so they couldn't get closer. "Not good! It's some kind of high frequency sound wave!" Luna said.

"And here I forgot to bring my earplugs," Blade half snarked.

"There's gotta be a way to stop her from using that move all the time," Sailor Moon frowned as they looked around...right as her eyes landed on a microphone on a stand. "Idea!"

The other two looked where she was looking, saw the microphone and the speaker placements...and grinned. "That's brilliant!" they nodded.

"Die!" the Youma roared as she launched another wave at them, but by then Sailor Moon had grabbed the microphone, switched it to on, and thrown it towards the soundwave. The microphone was destroyed in the process, but the damage had already been done, as the attack was channeled into the large speakers, amplified...and fired right back at the Youma, who gasped in surprise as she was hit with her own attack...at several times strength.

"Not so fun when you're on the receiving end, huh?" Blade smirked.

"Sailor Moon, do it now!" Luna shouted.

"Right! Moon Tiara Action!" Sailor Moon called out, throwing the tiara towards the Youma, who barely had time to recover from the literal reversal, as the attack hit her in the gut. The flash of light happened, and soon the Youma crumbled into dust.

"And that's the end of that." Blade said with a smirk beneath his helmet.

"Too bad you didn't get to do a lot tonight." Sailor Moon said teasingly.

"Meh, who cares about that?" Blade said with a shrug as he started walking back to his bike so they could go back to the studio.

Once there, they snuck back up to the floor they were on earlier, listening in as Amade and Akiko talked.

"That was so crazy Yu. What would you do if this had gotten worse and you wouldn't be able to play the piano anymore?" Akiko said in worry as she bandaged up his leg.

"I know…" Amade sighed "But, if something had happened to you instead, then I REALLY wouldn't have been able to play anymore." he told her with a smile, causing her to blush as her eyes widenned in surprise.

Meanwhile, Usagi and Kensuke were listening to them from around a corner, smiling as they nodded to each other with matching grins, happy about how things were going.

* * *

"Hey Usagi, did you hear? Yusuke Amade is actually getting married soon." Naru said with a sigh as about a week later, Usagi was once again hanging out with her friend while listening to music.

"Yeah, I heard about that." Usagi said with a smile as they listened to Amade's new song.

"I'm so devastated, I had a crush on him." Naru said sadly.

"Well, he IS nice and rather brave." Usagi said with an amused smile.

"You almost sound like you know him?" Naru asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I met him the other day when you made me listen to his CD, I actually saw him propose to his fiance." Usagi shot back with a grin.

"Really?! You're so lucky!" Naru whined, pouting a bit.

"I guess I am yeah." Usagi said teasingly as she looked at the CD case, the front cover having the picture of a girl on a crescent moon, the song being titled Moonlight Lady.

She then grinned a bit as the song drifted off, and a more upbeat tune started, as she flipped the case over, showing the silhouette of a man standing inside an Ace of Spades, titled Man of the Ace.

Amade had more than one inspiration that night after all.

* * *

A few days had passed since the Bat Youma event as Usagi and Kensuke had called it, and currently, the blonde girl was sitting in class, and she was glad her classmates had finally stopped giving her weird looks for being there early, because that had gotten annoying real fast. Speaking of which, she idly noticed Naru just came in, a bit later than normal but still on time. "Woke up a bit later than normal?" Usagi asked.

"Yeah, I forgot to set my alarm. Good thing mom noticed I hadn't woken up yet," Naru sighed. "At least I managed to get here on time."

However, before they could talk further…

"Hey, check out what I got," Umino said, suddenly coming up and holding up a poster.

"Oh hey, I saw that poster earlier on a window in a drug store." Naru blinked.

"I hope you didn't do anything you weren't supposed to," Usagi said, giving Umino a slightly suspicious look. Sure she didn't think he'd actually do it, but Umino has done some...questionable things...in the past.

"Of course not," Umino deadpanned. "I got it from an online store selling it for cheap. And yes, I made sure it was legit."

"That's...Mikan, isn't it?" Usagi mused, having heard about the girl before.

"Oh yeah, I heard she got scouted a while back," Naru said.

"That's right. As you know, Mikan Shiratori was from Juuban Municipal Junior High just like us. She may only be 17, but she's already starred in 8 commercials, popular ones at that. In fact, according to this data, her monthly income is 2,000,000 Yen," he reported after looking the girl up on his laptop.

"Hold up, how much?!" Usagi asked in shock.

"You could buy all the clothes you want with that." Naru said with wide eyes.

"I heard about that. Wasn't she scouted while walking on the street?" one of their classmates said.

"Yeah, she was really lucky," another said.

"Yeah, if I were lucky like her I bet I could have become a star too," Naru laughed a bit.

"I can't believe those scouts never spot us," the first one said. "They just don't know a good thing when they see it."

"But wouldn't scouts who look at hundreds of girls every day know what they're doing? If so, doesn't that just mean they knew what they were doing when they ignored them?" Umino couldn't help but say...to Usagi and Naru...in a whisper. He may be blunt at times but even he knew what would be suicide when he saw it.

* * *

Meanwhile, in one of the streets in town, a crowd had formed.

"Here, please watch my show!" Mikan smiled as she gave out another autograph, while surrounded by a crowd of fans.

However, among the crowd wasn't just her fans. Among them was a certain blonde haired general in disguise.

Looking at the humans gathered, and feeling the energy in the air, Jadeite smirked. "I can use this energy," he mused before turning to leave. However, little did he know a certain rider noticed him.

"Blonde hair...that hairstyle…" Kensuke frowned, before discreetly tailing the man. He didn't get to do it for long, as when the man turned a corner, he checked and found the alley empty, with nowhere he could have gone normally. Frowning, he quickly left. He had a feeling he'd just stumbled upon another of Jadeite's plans.

* * *

"What?! Singing together?!" Usagi gasped.

"Wouldn't it be awesome? We could become idols together." Naru said with a grin.

Usagi considered it for a moment "Well… I guess it could be interesting."

"That's the spirit!" Naru grinned. "Let's take the entertainment world by storm!"

With that agreed, Naru set up the music and the two started. The only problem…

"Okay, who let a dying cat into the house?!" Shingo said when he opened the door to the room. Suffice to say, the song the two were practicing...wasn't very pleasing to the ears.

Luna let out a small mew of agreement as she was currently on the ground, ears folded and paws held over them.

"Hey! It's not that bad!" Usagi said in indignation and threw a pillow at her brother, who quickly ducked out of the room.

"Some people just don't understand art," Naru huffed in agreement. Meanwhile Luna had a HUGE sweatdrop at the girls' reaction...and how they couldn't seem to notice just how bad and off tune that was…

"Anyway, let's take it from the top," Usagi said, as the two began singing again, Luna having ducked under the bed to try and block out the noise. The new problem this time though was...the two accidentally hit each other...a few times...with neither noticing.

"Hey watch it!" Naru winced from a foot to the toe.

"You be careful first," Usagi winced from an accidental knock to the arm.

"Okay...maybe we should have actually planned this before we started," Naru admitted.

"Yeah...both of us were kinda...doing whatever came to mind…" Usagi agreed. "Alright, first we gotta plan the choreography then work from there."

"Good idea. What do you think we should use as our main theme?" Naru mused.

"Well, I like Moonlight Legend, what about you?" Usagi asked.

"It IS a pretty good song." Naru admitted. "Okay, we'll use that as our main song. Now what should we use as the main style of our choreography?"

"Well…" Usagi mused as they began to brainstorm.

* * *

The next day…

"The Cinderella Caravan?" Usagi blinked at the newest bit of gossip going around.

"They're basically looking for the next Mikan through the caravan." One of her classmates said.

"Oh yeah, I heard about that this morning, apparently Mikan herself is helping to look for the next star, so it's guaranteed to get someone good." Naru said in remembrance.

"Well, in that case, want to try it out after school Naru?" Usagi asked her friend.

"I don't know if we're good enough yet, but it can't hurt to try." Naru admitted with a smile.

* * *

Meanwhile, at the current location of the Cinderella Caravan, a crowd was gathered all looking to see what this is about as well as learn more about it. However, across the street Kensuke was watching from a nearby cafe, frowning as he looked at the event. So far it seemed pretty normal...until he noticed the police officer and the man in a suit who seemed to be talking to Mikan. That wasn't the weird part. The weird part was where they suddenly began doing things you'd expect to see in a talent show, Mikan clapping at the 'acts', which while good, weren't exactly what he'd consider as 'star worthy' (he may not know much of the life, but he was pretty sure it would take more than just that).

"This is looking more and more like this is his latest plot," Kensuke frowned, before paying for his drink and leaving. Today may be one of the days he didn't have classes, but he didn't have forever. The hard part of having a civilian life. No freedom to pursue investigations as long as needed.

* * *

Later, after school, Usagi and Naru were walking down the street, headed to the location of the Cinderella Caravan to apply. "Let's show them what we can do," Naru smiled enthusiastically as they walked.

"Yeah, let's do our best to knock their socks off!" Usagi cheered in agreement. However, before they could go further, they were interrupted with the sound of a cat. Turning to the source, they saw Luna sitting at the side of a railing. "Huh? Luna? What are you doing here?" Usagi blinked.

Luna let out a meow, and walked over to a corner, but not before looking at Usagi one more time.

"...give me a minute," Usagi said a bit apologetically to Naru before going after Luna. Once they were alone more or less… "Did something happen?"

"No, nothing happened," Luna shook her head. "Though I need to ask, are you serious about this?"

"What do you mean?" Usagi blinked, though she had a feeling she knew what Luna was talking about.

"This Cinderella Caravan," Luna clarified. "I thought this was just a little break, but if you keep this up you're serious about being a star. You know that's only going to make things harder for your mission, correct?"

"I'm not THAT serious to be honest, I'm mostly doing it for Naru, she's just so gung ho about this I can't say no." Usagi admitted.

Luna blinked at that, thrown for a loop "Well…" she trailed off, humming in thought "I… suppose you can try then." Besides, if their 'rehearsal' was any indication...she highly doubted they'd get accepted anyway.

"Don't worry, I haven't forgotten my other job. Still don't really like it much, but then...what sane person enjoys a life of having to fight monsters?" Usagi chuckled.

"That's true," Luna admitted with a wry chuckle. "Alright then, I trust you on this one."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence," Usagi chuckled before rejoining Naru. "Sorry I took so long."

"Its fine. Though...what did your cat want?" Naru asked.

"Oh, you know, cat stuff, I think she just wanted to see me." Usagi answered easily as the two of them walked on, going pass a corner store as it's doors opened.

"Well if it isn't meatball head." said a voice that Usagi was REALLY not in the mood to hear.

"Oh god not you again." she said as she turned around, looking at the black haired boy who seemed to have made it his life's mission to annoy her.

"So, you going to the Cinderella Caravan?" he asked in amusement.

"What if we are?" Usagi shot back, while Naru decided to stay out of this.

"Just that someone like you probably needs to enter with a comedy routine." the boy shot back with a smirk, while Usagi could feel a vein getting ready to pop on her forehead.

She didn't get the chance to blow up at him though.

"Mamoru…" a MUCH more welcome voice spoke, seeing Kensuke walk out of the corner store while holding onto a bag of chips, while giving the black haired boy, who she guessed was named Mamoru, a disapproving look.

"K-Kensuke?" Mamoru asked in a mix of fear and confusion at the look he was receiving.

"THAT was strike three, you're out of the frying pan and into the fire now. I don't know what the hell has gotten in you these days, but turning into a bully with one of my friends is NOT the way to go." Kensuke said, and actually started pulling Mamoru away by his ear, stopping halfway and looking at Usagi "If you girls will excuse me, I need to go talk some sense into my idiot friend, have a good evening." he said, before continuing to walk away while pulling on Mamoru's ear, the black haired boy wincing and letting out the occasional mutter of pain.

"...well...that happened," Naru blinked.

Usagi on the other hand watched for a bit, and once they were out of sight, held a hand to her mouth, and it wasn't long before Naru noticed she was fighting hard not to laugh up a storm in the middle of the road.

Naru let her have her mirth, no doubt from the sweet catharsis, an amused look on her face. Eventually Usagi calmed down.

"Sorry, you just have no idea how satisfying that was to watch," Usagi said between giggles after that.

"I can imagine," Naru sweatdropped. "So...shall we continue?"

"Right, let's go," Usagi nodded. However, once they were gone, a good 30 minutes later, Kensuke came barreling back.

"Dammit, I was so focused on what the heck was wrong with Mamoru I completely forgot about that Caravan," he cursed. He just hoped he could get there in time.

* * *

"...Naru?" Usagi started.

"Yeah?" Naru asked.

"Weren't these things supposed to be...I dunno...harder?" Usagi frowned.

"...Maybe this is just the preliminary?" Naru suggested lamely at the sight of literally every applicant so far being given the passing grade by Mikan. And by every applicant, that included the applicants who, while certainly had some amusing acts...they were hardly what most would expect would cut it on the big stage…

"...okay, now I'm conflicted…" Usagi admitted. "On one hand we're here, on the other hand…" she trailed off.

Naru looked conflicted as well. On one hand she definitely wanted to try, but...well...the last few 'incidents' she'd been in came to mind…

Before she could make a decision however, someone came up to them "Oh thank god I got here in time." Kensuke panted as stopped next to the girls.

"Huh? Kensuke?" Naru blinked. "And what do you mean by 'in time'? Are you applying for this too?"

"No, not really," Kensuke shook his head once he got his breath back. "Its just...I think this might be another 'incident' that's been going around town," he said.

"What makes you say that?" Usagi asked, partly to keep up the ruse, and partly cause she also wanted to know.

Kensuke simply pointed at two particular contestants. A police officer who was happily doing handstands despite already having his turn, and a man in a suit going on about his 'V Balance'. "Need I say more? Also, I did some digging when I saw those two 'apply' earlier today. That guy in the suit? He's supposed to be Mikan's AGENT."

The two girls stared for a moment "Right… let's get out of here." Naru said nervously, not wanting to get caught up in another incident AGAIN.

"Seconded." Usagi said with a nod, as the trio turned back and started to leave, but not before hearing about how there was going to be a show at Shan Shan Plaza next Sunday.

"Thanks for the save, Kensuke," Naru sighed. It was starting to get worrying how often these things seemed to happen to her. "I REALLY don't want to add 'professional victim' to my list of achievements in life," she chuckled weakly.

"Just be glad I happened to see this when I did," Kensuke sighed.

"But...if this is another plot from those monsters...why is Mikan in on it?" Usagi asked, before the answer hit her, and she face palmed. "Duh...that's not Mikan. This is the same thing they did to Naru's mom."

"My thoughts exactly," Kensuke nodded. "Odds are another of those monsters is posing as Mikan, so whatever plan they got...they'll be pulling it off next Sunday," he frowned.

"Wow, you two sound like you've been investigating these things," Naru couldn't help but say seeing the interaction between Usagi and Kensuke. She followed it up with a small chuckle at how silly that sounded...but then she noticed they weren't laughing. "...you actually are doing that?" she blinked.

"Well… someone needs to you know? Me and Usagi look into it, and then we try to get that information to Sailor Moon and Kamen Rider Blade, it helps because I found that there's a spot they like to meet up at, so I leave notes there for them that has information." Kensuke said on the spot what he thought was the most believable thing.

"And not to mention…" Usagi sweatdropped, quickly thinking of something to add. "We...kinda keep ending up nearby or involved in an incident so...call it turning bad luck into something good?"

"Somehow that sounded kinda messed up...but I understand," Naru scratched the back of her head. "But...why didn't you tell me?"

Usagi looked guilty. "I wanted to, but...after the last few times you ended up becoming a victim I didn't want to possibly put you in the line of fire. These monsters don't joke around when their cover is blown…" And it wasn't a lie. The Youma could be absolutely vicious when they felt they had nothing to lose. The only part she left out was that those times they'd been transformed. She'd...rather not picture what would happen if a civilian were to face down a transformed Youma…

"But still...you should have told me. I'd have helped," Naru said.

"Wait, what?" Kensuke and Usagi blinked.

"You heard me. I want to help. These monsters have been hurting people, using their faces to do evil, like that one who used my Mom's face," Naru said. "I can't just leave things be, so if I can help in anyway, I want to."

Kensuke and Usagi looked at each other, unsure what to say to this. Eventually though, seeing the determination on Naru's face...they conceded. "Alright," Usagi nodded.

"If you're that sure about it...how can we say no," Kensuke agreed.

"Thank you," Naru nodded. "So...what's the plan now?"

"For starters, let's leave a note on where the event is going to take place. Next...I say we see if we can find the real Mikan. If this is anything like the last time, the real one should still be alive...I hope…" Kensuke gulped at the end.

"Let's...not go down that train of thought," Naru gulped, feeling more than a little afraid.

To say the atmosphere became heavy after that would be an understatement. Eventually Usagi shook her head. "Okay, enough of that. Where do you think she would hide the real Mikan?"

"Well… Naru, where was your mom hidden again?" Kensuke checked just to make sure.

"In the basement, she was tied up, gagged and locked down there." Naru answered, a bit of anger in her tone as she remembered it.

"Alright, so chances are, Mikan is still where the switch happened, which would mean her home or apartment… wherever that is." Kensuke mused "Question is, how do we find that?"

They all thought on it a bit, before Usagi snapped her fingers "Oh hey, Umino might be able to figure it out."

"You know, it's REALLY convenient you got someone like him close by," Kensuke chuckled. "How many times has he accidentally tipped us off again?"

"Not THAT many, but I get your point," Usagi admitted.

* * *

Talking to Umino had been….exceedingly easy. He never even asked why...and the girls decided they didn't actually want to know how he knew where Mikan lived AND the places she frequented. They had a feeling the answer would either creep them out or make them deck him in the face.

"Well...here we are," Kensuke mused as they were now at the apartment. Ringing the bell though...no response. "...I have no idea why I thought that would turn out any other way…" he deadpanned to himself.

"...now what?" Usagi sighed. Normally they'd just walk away and that's that, but well…

"Something I never thought I'd have to do ever again," Kensuke sighed...and pulled out a lockpick.

"...sooo many questions, so few answers we'd like," Naru and Usagi deadpanned as Kensuke started picking the lock.

"Remind me why we can't look for a window or something," Usagi groaned.

"We're in a highrise," Naru deadpanned.

"Right. That…" she sighed.

Eventually though, Kensuke managed to pick the lock, and they soon went in. "I feel like a crook…" Kensuke sighed...a feeling he was getting a bit too often lately. "Let's just…"

"Found her!" Usagi called out.

"Well… that was fast." Kensuke said after a moment of silence. He and Naru went over to where they heard Usagi...and saw the bathroom. "Whelp, I'm stepping back," he said simply.

"Smart move," Naru chuckled as she walked in. A few minutes later, she walked out. "Anything around here we can use to break glass or crystal?"

"...it says a lot that I don't even question requests like that anymore," Kensuke sighed as he went around, and found a convenient cane. Probably to be used as a weapon in case of a break in. "Will this work?" he asked, sticking the cane into the bathroom. The cane was taken, and a few minutes later the sound of something breaking was heard.

"It did!" the girls reported. "Now back off!"

"Got it!" Kensuke nodded, quickly walking back away and covering his eyes. He did NOT feel like ending up a peeping tom by accident.

A few minutes later had them in Mikan's bedroom, the girl now properly dressed in a bathrobe and lying on her bed. But she wasn't waking up.

"Okay...I'll admit this time the monsters were pretty smart," he admitted, as they'd taken a wet cloth and wiped it over her face to see if the cold would rouse her. No dice.

"Why isn't she waking up?" Naru frowned.

"Maybe whatever did this to her made sure she wouldn't wake up at all until they were done," Usagi suggested.

"Makes sense. It would kinda break the plan if the victim woke up and called for help," Naru admitted. "But what do we do now?"

"Now? All we can do is make sure nobody comes in here while she's out then hope Sailor Moon and Blade finish the job on Sunday. Odds are she's not waking up as long as that fake Mikan is around," Kensuke sighed.

The two girls thought about it and realized that yes, that was all they could do right now. "...does this feeling of helplessness when you find out so much but ultimately can't do anything always feel this bad?" Naru sighed.

"Yes, yes it does," Kensuke sighed. Sure it was a half lie, but the fact remained, until Sunday, they really couldn't do anything.

* * *

The next couple of days…

"Does it ever get easier?" Naru asked as she and Usagi were sitting on a bench with Luna, watching their classmates on the verge of tearing each other apart on who would be the next big star, all of them bearing the stamp of approval from the Cinderella Caravan.

"So far no, and I'm afraid of if it does," Usagi admitted, Luna giving her a sympathetic look when she thought Naru wasn't looking.

"So all we can do is wait and hope things don't get worse?" Naru sighed.

"Pretty much…" Usagi sighed. "We should stay away from the location on Sunday. The last thing we want is to end up hostages. Or worse, pulled into the scheme."

"Right…" Naru nodded with a sigh.

* * *

Sunday couldn't have come sooner as both Kensuke and Usagi were looking at Shan Shan Plaza. "No audience? They're really confident nobody will notice," Kensuke frowned.

"At this point, they may as well have won as far as they're concerned," Luna said as she was with them. "Still… are you sure it was wise to involve Naru?"

"Well, maybe not the best idea, but we're making sure she's staying away from danger at least." Usagi said with a sigh as they walked inside, looking around carefully to be sure they didn't run into any traps. What they found was…

"Okay, so aside from fraud, identity theft, using people, and other stuff like that, they're officially violating the sanctity of art in ALL forms," Kensuke groaned as on the stage, literally everyone was doing their act at the same time. By themselves...they might have been amusing. All together...it was probably the worst show in the world. "Here's hoping they don't remember this. I think they'd die of embarrassment."

"And there isn't even an audience," Usagi and Luna deadpanned as the only person in the audience was the fake Mikan...who suddenly got up, then twisted her head 180 degrees, her face now VERY much inhuman, if not straight up demonic with its bluish green skin that looked more like some kind of crystal, its blood red eyes, and its ears that made them think of goblins from RPG games.

"You saw me, didn't you?" the Youma said.

The sight was so jarringly hideous all of them let out an involuntary scream, and ran back through the door.

"Heart attack dammit!" Kensuke panted.

"I think I lost a few years off my life," Usagi panted as well...right before an arm smashed through the door, causing them to shout in alarm.

"Find some place to transform! We can't risk any Youma seeing you two transform as Jadeite might be watching!" Luna said.

The two nodded, before starting to run again, till eventually they reached the toilet rooms "Huh, kinda makes your feel like Superman." Kensuke said before he and Usagi both ran into their respective correct room.

Five seconds later…

"Moon Prism Power, Make Up!"

"Henshin!" " **Turn Up!"**

Meanwhile, back with the Youma, it had settled back down into it's seat after the interruption, and continued to watch her victims perform, till they started to drop unconscious, a cruel smile on her face.

However, suddenly the disco ball above stopped, as the phantom audience she'd made vanished and the flow of energy with it. "What the?! What's going on?!"

Suddenly the curtains closed and a new voice rang out.

"The villains who gave fake glass shoes to the girls dreaming of being Cinderella." the voice started, before another continued.

"Such foul trickery won't go unpunished by those who seek justice."

"Who's there?!" the Youma growled, as the curtains opened, revealing two figures.

"We are the warriors of love and justice! Sailor Moon…" Sailor Moon started.

"And Kamen Rider Blade!" Blade continued.

"In the name of the moon…!"

"And the Azure Dragon!"

"We will punish you!" they finished together.

The Youma growled and jumped upward, losing her disguise and revealing her true form. Which looked like she was wearing a towel around her body rather than a dress for some reason, said body being made out of glass, while she had a long tuft of green hair on the back of her head… and not on the top for some reason.

"Jeez, did you get lost on your way out the monster machine?" Blade couldn't help but quip.

Whether the Youma cared much for his comment or not...was brushed aside when she lashed out with a stream of liquid crystal from her mouth, forcing them both to dodge.

"You won't escape!" the Youma smirked, before unloading a barrage of the crystal, forcing them to evade again, as everywhere the crystals hit was soon encased in it.

"Okay, that's one BIG 'Nope' in my books," Blade gulped.

"We need to find an opening to counter!" Sailor Moon frowned, but as it was they were pinned down. Blade couldn't get closer without risking being turned into a statue and no way this thing was going to wait for her to throw her tiara.

"Both of you will die here!" the Youma smirked, before something flew through the air, and embedded right into her shoulder, causing her to cry out in pain.

"Perfect timing," Blade sighed, already knowing who it was.

All combatants turned their attention to the source of the rose, and unsurprisingly, Tuxedo Kamen was standing on one of the railings.

"It seems I was right to come here in case you two needed my assistance, due to a lack of powerful long range moves on the two of you." He spoke, his tone one of light amusement.

"Yeah, yeah, rub it in." Blade waved it off.

"Thanks for being here!" Sailor Moon said gratefully.

"Out of my way!" the Youma growled as she shot her crystal spray at him, but instead of evading, Tuxedo Kamen threw some roses forward, which suddenly exploded into a flurry of petals, catching the attack and soon freezing. Tuxedo Kamen then channeled his will into them, and sent them flying towards the Youma, who hastily brought up her guard as the projectiles cut into her, causing her to fall to the ground.

"And now for the finish!" Tuxedo Kamen said as he leaped into the air, drawing more roses as he spun in mid-air. "Tuxedo La...Rose Illusion!" he called out as he spread the roses, which burst into petals. The youma barely had time to recover as it was covered in a veritable blizzard of rose petals, letting out a shout as when the storm was over, the Youma was now completely grayed out before crumbling to dust.

"Huh, that was pretty impressive," Blade admitted.

"Thank you. I must say, I rarely get a chance to show off like this." Tuxedo Kamen said in amusement as he landed on the stage.

"You were so cool!" Sailor Moon cheered, a blush on her face and practically having stars in her eyes.

Tuxedo Kamen chuckled at that "Thank you, now, if you'll excuse me, I must be going, good luck to the two of you." he said, and walked through the curtains of the stage, which soon rose up, showing him to be completely gone.

"...how the heck did he do that?" Blade blinked.

"That just makes him even cooler, don't you think?" Sailor Moon cheered, much to Luna's and Blade's amusement. However, under his helmet, Blade soon frowned. He'd finally gotten a decent look at Tuxedo Kamen, and if he was right... he may just know who Tuxedo Kamen really was.

* * *

 **End of Chapter!**

 **So, yeah, a few things were set up here.**

 **First, yeah, mamoru got in trouble, and we're going to deal with his dickish personality.**

 **Second, Naru has been partially pulled into the fold, as she will now keep an ear to the ground for any strange things going on in town.**

 **Thirdly, yes, we made up an attack for Tuxedo Kamen, to make him seem a bit more competent, and we even allowed him to off the Youma.**

 **Finally, yes, Kensuke has a good hunch and WILL investigate it, don't worry, we follow up on plot points here lol.**

 **Anyway, hope you enjoyed, and we all know what happens in the next chapter, where we meet a nerdy cutie.**

 **She isn't my favorite scout, but she's in the top 3 at the least.**

 **Anyway, see you all then!**


	6. Card 6

**Next chapter after a little break!**

 **Time for the next party member to join the team.**

* * *

Kensuke sighed as he was half listening to a lecture in class. His mind more occupied on the little encounter with Mamoru the other day. Suffice to say, he had fully intended to get to the bottom of his friend's odd behavior. What he got though...was...strange. There was no other way to say it.

* * *

" _Alright, talk. Why the hell do you act like a dick each time you see Usagi?" Kensuke asked as he finally let go of Mamoru's ears after they were out of sight._

" _...honestly...I'm not really sure myself," Mamoru eventually admitted, earning a quirked eyebrow from Kensuke. "Would you believe me if I said I was hearing voices in my head?"_

 _Kensuke gave his friend a long look at that "I'm sorry… what?"_

 _Mamoru groaned "I know how it sounds alright? But that's the truth, whenever I see her, there's this little voice whispering into my head."_

" _And it's telling you to bully her?" Kensuke asked incredulously._

" _No… the opposite actually." Mamoru said, looking away with a blush of embarrassment "It's telling me to love her above all others."_

 _Kensuke actually stopped walking at that, his brain needing a few moments "Wait… hold on, what?"_

" _I know it's weird alright?! The first time I heard it I just saw her walking through town and I got freaked out but I just thought it was the wind. Then I saw her again and I heard the voice AGAIN. I knew there was something weird, and you know what they say, third time's the charm. So after I saw her a third time, I went to see a therapist, hoping they might be able to help me identify the problem, but they were just as stumped as I was. So, I decided to try and ignore the voice as much as I could, but then one time I actually walked close to her and she looked at me and the voice was almost shouting at me, so I did the first thing that came to mind to try and shut it up and got a bit rude with her." Mamoru explained._

" _A bit?" Kensuke repeated with a raised eyebrow._

 _Mamoru had the decency to blush "Alright, very rude. But it was the only way I could think of to make her leave fast and make the voice shut up."_

" _And how's that working so far?" Kensuke asked flatly, still pretty unimpressed._

" _Its not," Mamoru groaned. "And yes, the delayed realization that I've been acting like a total jackass for basically nothing is setting in."_

" _That's a start at least," Kensuke sighed "Still, you've really fucked up, you know that? You could have just walked away from Usagi yourself without being a jerk."_

" _I… didn't think of that right off the bat." Mamoru admitted._

" _Why am I not surprised?" Kensuke groaned. If there was one thing that he'd learned since becoming friends with Mamoru, is that as level headed as the younger man could be at times, when he made a snap decision, they were often as hairbrained as they come. "Well, what do you plan on doing about it now?" he sighed._

" _For starters? I think I owe that Usagi girl a big apology," Mamoru sighed._

" _That's for sure," Kensuke deadpanned. "But the next issue is what to do with those voices. They're obviously not going to leave you alone anytime soon."_

" _That...I'm not sure honestly…" Mamoru admitted._

" _Well… is it sometimes saying something along the lines of making her happy?" Kensuke asked._

 _Mamoru hummed in thought "Yeah… I've heard that one sometimes… amongst other things." he finished with a blush._

" _No details please." Kensuke said dryly "Anyway, we can work with that one, just try to become her friend instead."_

" _Would… would it really be that simple?" Mamoru asked, blinking a few times._

" _Considering how much of an ass you've been to her? No, it's gonna take a LOT of effort." Kensuke shot back, with Mamoru slumping forward. "It's either that or avoid her for the rest of your life, and that's assuming the voice doesn't end up getting louder and possibly start driving you mad. At least this way if it doesn't work out, you can at least have a clear conscience. Not the best solution I know, but it's literally the best I can come up with right now."_

" _And what makes it worse, I literally can't think of any reason to go against that plan," Mamoru sighed wryly. "How is it you're always giving me the good advice?"_

" _It's basically my unofficial job with you," Kensuke said, punching him in the shoulder good naturedly._

 _Mamoru actually laughed at that. "Alright, I'll see what I can do. Though...any ideas how to help ease this in?"_

" _Only one I can give you is to straight up start by telling her you're sorry for how you acted and tell her about the weird voice, it's the only way she'll give you a chance." Kensuke said with a shrug._

" _...okay, any suggestions how I can word that that doesn't make me sound like I should be in a straight jacket?" Mamoru added dryly._

" _You'd be surprised what she's willing to believe ever since monsters started showing up," Kensuke sweat dropped._

* * *

After that, he'd talked a bit more with Mamoru up until his friend mentioned Usagi going to the Cinderella Caravan, with Kensuke doing a 180 and running back full tilt. So far it seems he hadn't run into Usagi again yet, though whether it was him trying to think of what to say to the girl or them just not running into each other...he wasn't sure which it was. If nothing else, he'd at least taken the time to sorta explain things to Usagi, so he was sure she'd at least listen...provided Mamoru didn't do anything boneheaded before that.

Speaking of boneheaded, he was broken out of his thoughts when the lecturer, a rather grouchy looking middle aged man who had a less than popular reputation among his students, chucked a piece of chalk at him when it seemed he wasn't paying attention. Of course...with his training (and a small mental nudge from Change Beetle), avoiding it was child's play, much to the impressed looks of his classmates, and the annoyed/disappointed dental click from his lecturer.

He went back to focusing in on his class, but not before thinking one last thing. He'd FINALLY been able to get a good look at Tuxedo Kamen...and the more he thought about it, the more he couldn't help but notice how eerily similar Tuxedo Kamen looked to Mamoru. Still...he didn't have enough proof, so he couldn't exactly do anything just yet.

* * *

Usagi hummed as she looked through the scores for the recent mock exams for the whole school.

Well… at least she wasn't deadlast, she was actually amongst the average students by now, though she was in their own lower range.

Idly, she looked at who had the highest score.

"Ami Mizuno… a perfect 100… woah, she's gotta be a genius." she murmured in slight surprise.

"Guess the genius girl did it again," a few voices snorted.

"What do you expect? I hear all she ever does is study, even during break," another one said.

"Bet she thinks she's so much better than everyone. I hear she doesn't even talk to anyone," more voices snorted derisively.

"Wow, jerks much?" Usagi muttered as she overheard them all talking.

Idly, she glanced around, and noticed a blue haired girl standing near the windows, one who seemed to be trying to ignore the voices… and some stares… guess that was her then.

"Impressive isn't she? I hear she's got an IQ of 300. A certified genius," Umino said, suddenly popping up from...somewhere.

"...not even going to ask," Usagi deadpanned with a sigh. She'd finally gotten desensitised to the stuff he'd end up doing here and there.

"Really? Too bad, cause I was gonna talk about Crystal Seminar. Apparently it's a special tuition that can make any student great at their studies. I heard she was scouted specifically to join," Umino said.

"I also heard that place is REALLY expensive," Naru said as she came around, having heard the conversation. "But then, I also heard her family are doctors so they probably have the money."

"True, but she doesn't need it since I think she's there on scholarship," Umino added.

"Too bad she's got a bad attitude," one of their classmates said. "It's like she thinks she's better than everyone else."

"That type is the worst," Naru huffed.

Usagi however didn't say anything, instead looking back at the girl, and noticed the rather..lonely...look she seemed to have…

* * *

Usagi sighed as she was on her way back home after school.

"That girl… I don't think she has any friends… but I don't think it's her own fault either." she mused with a frown. However, her thoughts were cut off when she noticed something up ahead, namely a cry of surprise. "Hey...isn't that…" she blinked as true enough, up ahead was Ami Mizuno...and less expectedly was Luna, sitting on a divider as the girl scratched her under the chin, much to the cat's enjoyment. The sight caused her to smile a little. "Called it. She's not as unfriendly as everyone thinks. I should go talk to her."

With that, Usagi walked over, just as Luna climbed onto Ami's arm, and was soon on her shoulder, the girl soon petting her again. "Hello," Usagi said with a friendly smile, catching Ami's attention.

"Oh! Hello." Ami greeted with a nod "Can I help you?"

Usagi shrugged "Just making sure my cat wasn't bothering you actually."

"Oh, not at all," Ami shook her head with a smile. "If anything, she fell from the sky, so I thought she was an angel."

"Luna? An angel?" Usagi blinked. Not quite the first thing that would come to her mind regarding the moon cat.

Ami blushed a little at that, the two becoming silent for a bit, before Usagi broke it once again.

"You're Ami Mizuno from class 5, right?" Usagi said. "I'm Usagi Tsukino from class 1, and this is Luna. It's nice to meet you," she smiled as she introduced herself and the cat.

Ami seemed surprised, but soon smiled. "It's nice to meet you too."

Usagi smiled again, before a thought crossed her mind. "Oh, do you have some time?"

"Well...I've got some time before I have to go," Ami nodded.

"Then, do you go to the arcade?" Usagi asked. Now Ami just looked confused.

* * *

"Yo, Usagi." Kensuke said with a wave when he saw the blonde walk in, though with someone different from usual.

"Hey Kensuke." Usagi said, before noticing the look he was giving Ami "Ah, her name's Ami Mizuno, she's a new friend I made."

"I'm already your friend?" Ami asked with a bashful blush.

"Trust me, Usagi is probably the easiest person to befriend you'll ever meet." Kensuke said with a chuckle.

"I'm just that much of a nice girl." Usagi said with a grin and flashing a victory sign, while Luna jumped onto the counter Kensuke was leaning on.

"Heh, well I know what you're here for. There's an open cabinet right now. Better get to it soon before someone else does," Kensuke chuckled, pointing at the Sailor V games, one of which was open. That was the one that Usagi wasted no time in going for, and Ami following along to watch. Once they were away… "You wanted to talk?" he whispered to Luna.

She nodded as she jumped up to his shoulder, acting like she was just going to stay there for no reason "That girl with Usagi, Ami, I can feel a strange energy coming from her, though I'm not sure what exactly it is, as it doesn't exactly feel like a youma."

"Well… think she's one of the scouts?" He suggested the other likely possibility.

"It… could make sense, I'll have to observe her a bit more to figure it out." she mused.

"Which scouts ARE we looking for anyway?" he couldn't help but ask.

"Well, first, Usagi is the only one who uses a brooch to transform, the others have pens to change, and I have three on me, Mercury, Mars and Jupiter." she counted off.

"Hmm… I'm gonna take a guess and say there might be some basis on the roman gods for their abilities?" he asked, earning a nod "Right, then Mars is fire, of that I'm certain, just as Jupiter will be lightning, and for Mercury… I think it was water or ice?"

"Actually, the god Mercury wasn't linked to any elements, however, the planet itself is of a lower temperature than others despite being rather close to the sun. The link between Mercury and the element of water is something that just… popped up over the years in fiction from what I understand." Luna clarified.

"Huh. Interesting…" Kensuke mused, before looking at Ami who was watching Usagi play. "Ami Mizuno, huh?" he mused...before his eyes widened. "...if she is a scout, I'm gonna bet she's Mercury."

"What makes you say that?" Luna asked, a little surprised at the sudden words.

"...take her family name, and compare it to Usagi's," Kensuke said simply.

Luna hummed "Usagi is… the rabbit of the moon, and Ami is… beauty of water… I see where you got the idea now." she muttered.

"Not to mention it might be a pattern. A small one mind you, but if the pattern holds up, keep an eye out for people who have a similar naming concept," Kensuke frowned. "Maybe I'm barking up the wrong tree, but I'd say it'd definitely help to have a hint."

"Well, it's worth a shot, our biggest hint will however be if the mark of Mercury ever appears somewhere on her body." Luna mused "Though it's been a long time, I at least remember each scout bore the mark of their planet on them."

"Just hope it's somewhere visible. The last thing we'd need is the marks showing up in places were NOT supposed to see," Kensuke couldn't help but deadpan.

Luna chuckled weakly, understanding the general body areas he was referring to.

Back with the girls, Usagi was...not doing so well. She'd definitely gotten further than last time, but once again the game over screen blared in front of her. "Game over…" she sighed, right as Motoki came over, having noticed her.

"Yo, Usagi," he greeted with a friendly smile.

"Hi, Motoki," Usagi smiled wryly from her loss.

"Your friend?" he asked when he noticed Ami.

"My name is Ami Mizuno. It's nice to meet you," Ami said politely.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Motoki Furuhata," Motoki greeted in return.

"Ami, wanna try it?" Usagi offered, seeing as she was done with her turn.

"Eh? Ah...alright," Ami seemed surprised by the sudden offer, but accepted and was soon playing the game.

Usagi and Motoki both watched in interest as Ami started to play, and she seemed to be doing well for a beginner.

Then she got past the level Usagi was stuck on, and kept going a bit… and then a bit more… and then a bit MORE… and then even beyond that!

Curiously, Usagi glanced at the score count… and Ami was definitely the holder of a new high score at this point. By now she'd attracted a sizeable crowd of gamers all watching, and before long, a victory song played as Ami had just beaten the current highest score. "You're awesome Ami!" Usagi cheered, hugging her new friend. "You even beat the highest score!"

Ami blinked at that, almost like she had been in a trance and then came out of it "I did?" she said, before the results screen came up and she saw her score blinking at the top "Huh… so I did." she said, before entering her first name, what with the three letter limit and only in english.

Once she did, she was met with the sound of applause as the crowd cheered for her accomplishment. Ami stood up, looking around a little bashfully at the attention. Usagi noticed her smile, which made her own widen. "You look really good when you're smiling, Ami," Usagi couldn't help but say.

"You really think so?" Ami blinked, but looked happy. The sweet moment continued for a moment, before Ami blinked, remembering something important, and checked her watch. "Oh my, look at the time. I'm sorry, but I need to go."

"Is it to the seminar? Is Crystal Seminar nearby?" Usagi asked with an understanding smile.

"Yeah, I go there everyday now," Ami nodded.

"Eh? Every day?!" Usagi gasped in surprise.

"Yeah...I'm only good at studying," Ami said with a sad smile. "I want to be a doctor like my mom, so I need to study hard."

"You wanna be a doctor, huh? That's so cool!" Usagi said. "Then I'll see you tomorrow. Good luck with your studies," she said with a wave.

"See you," Ami smiled in return, before turning to leave.

Back with Kensuke and Luna, the Rider was glancing at Luna's dropped jaw before he used a finger to push it back up "So… what's up?"

"Sailor V is a training sim we had installed to help the sailor scouts practice… and she just got the high score." she said slowly.

Kensuke blinked slowly "Ah… I see… yeah... "

"She… honestly, I'm even more inclined to believe she's a scout now." she admitted.

"Any help would be appreciated yeah," Kensuke nodded, turning to where Usagi was seeing Ami off.

However, that was when Motoki came over, and gave Usagi something. Once Motoki moved out of the way, they noticed it was a disk case of some kind. Curious, he went over, and noticed it was a floppy disk. "What's this?"

"Oh this? Motoki said Ami dropped this by accident, I'll go give it back to her," Usagi said, to which Luna walked up to her and soon climbed onto her shoulder.

"Okay, you'd better hurry then. She might need that for her seminar," Kensuke said as he waved them off.

* * *

"So, what were you talking about with Kensuke?" Usagi asked as she walked towards the seminar with Luna on her shoulder.

"Well…" Luna said slowly, considering telling Usagi, before figuring she might as well "I think Ami may be one of the Sailor Scouts."

Usagi blinked at that, stopping in her tracks "Seriously?!" she hissed out in shock.

"I'm not 100% sure yet, but yes, I think she may be one of our allies," the cat said.

"That's...that's...okay, I'm not sure if that's awful or awesome. On one hand I'd love one of my friends to be part of the team, but on the other hand...that means she'll have to fight Youma and Undead too…" Usagi sighed at the end.

"Yes, I know it's not exactly the easiest news to hear, but it is what it is." Luna said with a sigh.

Eventually they reached their destination. "So this is Crystal Seminar," Usagi mused. "Hm...seems if you use their Crystal Disks, it helps you study a lot," she read. "Must be this thing," she mused, looking at the floppy.

Luna frowned as she looked at the building. "Usagi, be careful."

"Something wrong?" Usagi asked.

"Something doesn't feel right," Luna said.

"Uh… hey." the two heard a voice say from their right, one that was familiar, making them turn to see Mamoru standing there awkwardly.

"Oh… you." Usagi said dryly.

"Yeah… me." he said, rubbing the back of his neck nervously "Look, I… I really don't have any other way to say this other than I'm sorry. I was a jerk and I know it, I should have been a better person."

"Yeah… voices in your head is weird, but like Kensuke probably told you, you could have just ignored it." she said.

Mamoru wasn't surprised Kensuke told her honestly, and nodded with a sigh "Yeah… I probably should have done that."

"So… was that all? Came to apologize and then never talk to me again?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.

Surprisingly, he shook his head "No, I was… hoping to start over actually." he said, going up to her and then holding out his hand, trying to put on a smile "Mamoru Chiba."

Usagi looked at the offered hand, then to his face, before sighing and gaining a small smile and shaking his hand "Usagi Tsukino."

"Your parents couldn't resist could they?" Mamoru couldn't help himself.

"Kensuke said the same thing." Usagi said with a chuckle.

"Yeah, sounds like something he'd say too," Mamoru chuckled. "So...what are you doing here? Thinking of joining the Seminar?"

"Ah, no. I don't think my family could afford it and I don't know if their courses work on someone like me," Usagi sighed. "I'm actually here to give this back to a friend of mine. She dropped it earlier," she explained, showing him the floppy disk.

"That...might not work. I happened to check this place out once on a whim, and well...let's just say the security guard is pretty unfriendly to anyone going in during class times," Mamoru said with a sweat drop at the rather...rude reception he'd gotten once.

"That so…?" Usagi sweat drop, mentally picturing the security guard...who for some reason had oni horns and fangs. "...maybe I should give it back to her tomorrow…"

Mamoru frowned a bit at that. "How about I try to help you get in?" he offered.

"Eh? Really?" Usagi blinked. "But how would we do that?"

"Well… Kensuke's more of the gamer, but he's roped me into playing some games as well… ever heard of Metal Gear?" he asked, an idea in his head.

* * *

The security guard hummed a bit as he was reading his magazine, looking up every few minutes, especially when he heard the door opening. Case in point, he heard the door open, and looked to see who it was...and blinked when he didn't see anyone. "Damn pranksters," he frowned, before quirking an eyebrow when he noticed a cardboard box by the door. "Was that always there?" he blinked, before shrugging and going back to his magazine. When he looked up again, the box was there...though he could have sworn it wasn't where it was now. Shrugging again, he turned to his magazine again. Eventually he looked up again, and this time he frowned deeply cause he KNEW the box hadn't been where it was now. Walking over, he grabbed the box and lifted it up, glaring at the two people who had been hiding in the box.

"Um… hi?" Usagi tried weakly as she and Mamoru were crouched down and had been underneath the box.

* * *

Luna was mentally counting in her head after the two had gone in, and when she reached 5 minutes, she saw both them get thrown out, landing on their butts on the sidewalk.

"That...didn't go so well…" Mamoru groaned, before getting up.

"And here I thought we were almost home free…" Usagi sighed, to which Mamoru offered her a hand to help her up. She blinked, but smiled a little as she accepted it, getting up. "Well...it WAS a pretty good idea, so at least we tried."

Luna sweat dropped at the fact that the two of them thought this was actually a good idea.

"Well, guess no choice then. I'll have to give this back to her tomorrow," Usagi sighed.

"Probably for the best," Mamoru nodded. "I'll see ya around then, hope you can get that back to your friend without issue," he said, before waving goodbye and walking off.

Usagi watched him go for a moment before smiling a little. "Guess he wasn't so bad after all," she said softly, before sighing as she looked at the floppy disk she still had. "Talk about a lot of trouble for this little thing."

"Actually...I'd like to take a look at that," Luna said once Mamoru was away.

"Huh?" Usagi blinked.

* * *

"He tried to help you out huh? Good on him. I'm glad I managed to get through to him." Kensuke said when Usagi and Luna came back.

"Yeah, though it looks like I'll have to bring it back to her tomorrow. I checked the schedule and the seminar is still going on right now." Usagi said with a shrug as they were in the employees room at the arcade.

"So what's so important about this floppy disk that you wanted to check it?" Kensuke asked.

"Honestly? I'm not 100% sure, but something just doesn't feel right about it," Luna said as they loaded the floppy disk into the computer. Once the program was started, what came up were…

"...these look like normal practice questions to me," Usagi said as she looked at the screen.

"Maybe, but give me a minute," Luna said as she hopped into the table and started typing on the keyboard.

"You can do hacking?" Kensuke blinked. Seemed this cat really was full of surprises.

"Something like that," Luna nodded as she went to work on the program, and after a few minutes, the program suddenly changed, and a strange noise was heard.

"What is this?!" Usagi groaned as she and Kensuke were covering their ears. It was painful for starters, but then it felt like it was trying to grab their brains and crack them open, Kensuke relaxing when he felt Change Beetle exert some of his power from within the card, which glowed within his pocket, and noticed Usagi's face calming a bit when a small glow shone on her forehead for a moment, but he wasn't quite able to make out the shape.

"This is…!" Luna said in alarm before killing the program. Once the two humans could remove their hands from their ears, Luna explained. "That was a brainwashing program. Whoever made this must have been using them on the students that attend the seminar.

"Oh no! That means Ami is in danger!" Usagi gasped in alarm.

"Then we'd better suit up and get to work. Looks like we've found ANOTHER Dark Kingdom plot," Kensuke frowned.

* * *

"Is it bad that I'm starting to get used to sneaking and entering into places?" Usagi asked flatly as they in the alleyway next to the Crystal Seminar.

"I don't think I can or should answer that," Kensuke sighed. "Well, time for the usual," he said as Usagi pulled out her Disguise Pen.

"Moon Power! Turn me into a doctor who works at a university hospital!" she called out, and in a flash, her outfit had changed. It was… pretty much exactly what she had requested, wearing a white coat over a green dress with some short heels, her hair styled short and cut neatly.

"Smart move on not asking for anything flashy." Kensuke asked with a chuckle as he accepted the pen "Moon Power! Turn me into a doctor who works at a university hospital!" he called, figuring her idea worked and was inconspicuous enough, as the light changed his outfit and "Huh… kinda flashy." he mused as he looked down at himself. He was wearing the standard white coat, with a stethoscope hanging around his neck, but the outfit underneath consisted of a rather bright yellow shirt with the number 87 in pixels and bright magenta pants with green sneakers. He looked over everything he had, and found that, as usual, he had a hidden weapon, the stethoscope being able to extend like a flail.

"Your hair was even made all frizzy." Usagi said with a giggle as she ran a hand through it and messed it up further.

"Somehow I get the feeling I'm the odd doctor out in whatever university the Disguise Pen picked," Kensuke muttered before they went in, the guard buying their disguises as they included IDs.

Acting quickly, they looked for the class used for the seminar, and went in. "Excuse us, but everyone, please get away from the computers!" Kensuke said quickly, catching the attention of the students...or rather the zombie looking students. All except for one.

"Excuse me? We're in the middle of work at the moment." Ami said as she stood up, a confused frown on her face, apparently the disguise included a minor glamour effect because she wasn't recognising them.

Usagi blinked in surprise at that. "Uh...are you experiencing any weird symptoms from using the Crystal Disk?" she asked.

Ami blinked. "Oh, that? I...don't actually use them," Ami admitted sheepishly.

"Well, it's a good thing you don't. We've found that the use of these Disks seem to cause some strange health problems, as you can see with your classmates," Kensuke said, quickly following up on Usagi's line.

"What? Oh my, then we'd better inform the supervisor," Ami said in worry, now VERY glad the Disks made her head hurt so she never actually used them.

"Nonsense," a new voice said, as a woman entered the room from the back door. She looked like a standard lecturer, wearing a green suit and white shirt underneath, with a pair of glasses on her face and neck length brown hair. "The Disks are perfectly safe for use," she said.

"No they are not!" Usagi shot back. "Just look at your students!"

"They are simply applying their fullest into the program. Unlike someone," she said, glaring at Ami.

"Are they now…?" Kensuke mused, lifting up the stethoscope, before hurling it at the woman, the hidden weapon extending and forcing her to dodge, but cutting into her cheek in the process.

"You bastard!" she glared, her eyes gaining an inhuman look.

"So you're the Youma in charge of this operation!" Usagi said.

"Youma?" Ami blinked, but the two of them were already acting quick, figuring they were in disguise anyway, so this time it wouldn't make a difference.

"Moon Prism Power, Make Up!"

"Henshin!" " **Turn Up!"**

One flash of light and field of energy later, and Ami was now staring at what she was positive where the superheroes the rumors said were going about the city.

"Halt, evil villain! Geniuses are valuable because they help better the world and make it more peaceful! We won't let them fall into the hands of evil!" Sailor Moon started.

"We'll change the fates you had intended for them!" Blade added.

"In the name of the moon!" Sailor Moon started.

"And the azure dragon!" Blade continued.

"We'll punish you!" they finished.

The Youma chuckled, before she soon shifted into her true form. A red skinned Youma that sure fit the bill of a demon-like look. "I am the Youma of knowledge, Garoben!" she declared. "Now, the first question!" Garoben said as several papers appeared around her. "Why do apples fall from trees?!"

"You're kidding right? Everyone knows that's because of gravity!" Sailor Moon shot back, the papers vanishing at her words.

"Correct! Second Question: What is gravity? Explain in less than 50 words!" Garoben continued.

"The force that pulls things towards a celestial body like the Earth!" Blade quickly answered, charging forward and slashing at Garoben.

"Argh! Correct!" she shouted as she was pushed back.

"Hey, get away from here, it's dangerous!" Blade quickly told Ami who was still standing there from shock.

"R-Right!" the girl said as she made a run for it.

"I won't let you!" Garoben said as she surged forward, and grabbed hold of Ami.

"Coward!" Sailor Moon shouted indignantly, as with this, they couldn't attack her without risking hitting Ami.

"Final question of the Newton category: What is the Equation to Newton's Universal Law of Gravity?!" Garoben called out.

THAT made them (even Luna who was hiding) stop short. "Uh...er...okay uh...the larger the mass the stronger the force?" Sailor Moon guessed.

"Incorrect!" Garoben barked as the zombified students got up and started going for the two heroes.

"The equation is F = Gm1m2/r2!" Ami shouted. "With F denoting…!" she didn't get to finish as Garoben covered her mouth.

"That question wasn't for you!" Garoben glared, before pressing Ami's head against a computer screen. "Now, give your energy to our great leader!"

"I...won't…!" Ami shot back. "I may only be good at studying, but I do it to one day help people! I refuse to help you hurt people!" she shouted, and at that moment, a glow started to shine from her forehead, and everyone in the room could feel the energy welling up.

"Well… if that isn't a clue then I don't know what is." Kensuke said as he shoved away as many of the students as he could, trying not to hurt them too much in the process, while he saw the blue glow coming from Ami, and when Garoben lifted her head up, right there on her forehead, was the symbol of the planet Mercury.

"Moon Tiara Stardust!" Sailor Moon called out as she hit all the students that had crowded towards her with the magic, causing them to fall to the ground, the control lost. "That symbol, so she is one of us!"

"I don't know what this is, but if I can't have your brain energy, I'll just take your brain instead!" Garoben said...before the room started to shake. "What's going on?"

"Uh oh…" Blade gulped when he felt a familiar hot feeling.

"Uh oh? Please tell me that 'uh oh' isn't what I think it is," Sailor Moon gulped.

"Sorry but it is. An Undead is coming!" Blade reported, right as the shaking stopped...before a hole was blown through the floor, right next to where Garoben was, causing the Youma to stumble to the side in surprise, and from the hole, an Undead soon burst out and landed on the second floor. It was slightly hunched over with smooth brown armor covering its back. Its shoulders were also covered by a similar round plating with leather straps, and metal studs covering its biceps. Its forearms and hands looked like brown-armored claws, but despite the shape, both had black steel revolvers that had armored plating on them. The Undead's torso may have been thin, but it was also well armored, with the familiar Undead belt around its waist, and its legs were thicker with brown armored feet and bone claws for toes.

"What… is this?" Garoben muttered as she inched away from the creature, while Ami was looking at it a bit fearfully.

"Blade… which one is that?" Sailor Moon whispered.

"One I didn't expect to see so soon." he muttered "If I'm right, that's the Armadillo Undead, category 2 of Diamonds, and a pretty annoying one for me."

"Why is that?" Luna asked...right before a gunshot was heard, as a bullet embedded into the wall not far from her.

"That's why," Blade said flatly. "He's not called Bullet Armadillo for nothing."

That was the last thing he could say before the Armadillo Undead started firing almost wildly, fortunately not aiming for any of the downed students, clearly more interested in going after the able bodied combatants...or really whoever was still moving. Fortunately this time that included the Youma.

"Stupid creature! Don't get in my way! First question, mathematics: What is the square root of seven?!" Garoben said to the Undead...who responded with a growl and more bullets. "No attacking the question maker! Take these!" she shouted as she hurled razor sharp papers at the Undead, all of them either bouncing off its armor or being shot out of the air by it.

In the meantime, Sailor Moon and Blade quickly took this chance to crawl towards and get Ami to safety.

"Wh-what is even going on?!" Ami gasped when they got her away.

"Right now? A brawl between monsters, and a chance for us to get the students to safety," Blade said. "Let's go before either of those two decide to go for us."

"Is there anyway I can help?" Ami asked.

"Actually…" Luna spoke up, catching her attention.

"Wait...is that Luna? And she can talk?!" Ami gasped, now wondering if this was all just some nightmare.

Luna sighed, before doing a backflip, and from a trail of magic, a pen appeared. It was blue with a golden cap that had a ring on top with the symbol of Mercury on it. "This is for you. The truth is, you're actually one of the Sailor Scouts who can protect this world. That pen is your transformation item."

"I… wait… what?" Ami said, looking utterly lost as she held the pen in her hands.

"Did you have to give her the identity questionning NOW?" Sailor Moon asked in deadpan.

"Look, Ami, to sum it up, you're a superhero with the power to help, HOWEVER, the transformation is flashy, so let's get the other students clear first, because this battle will be destructive, alright?" Blade said to the girl, making her look at him.

"I… alright, I can do that." she said, still somewhat confused, but slipped the pen into her front pocket for the moment as she started to help drag the students out of harm's way while the two monsters were busy fighting one another.

Fortunately the fight was intense enough that while the room was completely trashed, they'd managed to get all the students out safely. Once that was done, Ami was once more looking at the pen, still unsure about this. "Is this...really supposed to be for me?" she asked again.

"Trust me, I wondered the same thing when I picked up Luna that day a good few weeks back." Sailor Moon said with an amused sigh.

Ami blinked at that, before something just seemed to click as her eyes were now truly focused on Sailor Moon "Usagi? You're…?"

"Guilty. And Blade is Kensuke, he's less obvious since he has an actual mask." Sailor Moon said with a grin while Blade gave Ami a two fingered salute.

"So don't worry, I know you can do it, and we'll have your back all the way," Sailor Moon smiled encouragingly.

"Usagi…" Ami said in surprise, but soon smiled back, seeing the faith she had.

The moment was soon ruined when Garoben was sent flying out one of the class windows, her body landing in a crumpled heap as she soon dissolved into dust. "And the brawl has its winner," Blade said flatly as the Undead stepped out of the room, its sights now on them. "Now or never Ami, cause HE wants to make us into swiss cheese!"

"Alright!" she said seriously… before looking sheepish "How does this work though?"

The other two heroes sweatdropped at that, before Luna hopped onto her shoulder and whispered it into her ear, jumping back down at Ami nodded "Right. Mercury Power, Make Up!"

A show of bubbles wrapped around her for a second and when it cleared, she stood in an outfit similar to Sailor Moon, except hers only had white and blue as the colors, with boots only slightly shorter than Moon's own, while the gem on her own tiara was, once again, blue.

When the transformation was over… "Eh? Is this me?" Ami, or rather, Sailor Mercury said in surprise as she looked herself over.

"Worry about the look later!" Blade said as he was busy deflecting shots from the Armadillo Undead. He was holding his ground, but the ranged weapon was making this very difficult for him.

"Okay, what do I do?" Sailor Mercury asked.

"Say 'Shabon Spray'! That's your special attack!" Luna instructed.

"Alright. Shabon Spray!" she called out, gathering a sphere of water in her hands, before releasing it in a mass of bubbles that soon covered the area in a thick mist. Strangely though, Sailor Moon and Blade both didn't have any issues seeing through it, but the Undead sure did, evident by how it was looking around, as if trying to figure out where its targets were.

Seeing the chance, Blade motioned to the two sailors to be quite, and mimed sneaking around it, earning a nod from both. The Undead though wasn't about to sit still as it started firing wildly, but the group managed to dodge, until Blade was in a good position and drew two of his cards, showing them to Sailor Moon, who realized what he was asking for. Taking a deep breath, she was about to let it out, before Mercury stopped her, and pointed towards a nearby fire extinguisher. Moon gave her an 'ok' sign, and moved in front of the object, and let out a shout. As expected, the Undead turned to the source and fired, but Sailor Moon jumped out of the way, the bullet hitting the extinguisher and unloaded its content right into the Undead's face. At that moment….

" **Slash! Thunder!"**

"Lightning...Slash!" Blade called out as he struck the Undead several times with his electrified sword, causing massive damage as the energy surged through it. The Undead let out a choked cry before falling over and exploding, the mist soon clearing to show the Undead twitching on the ground as its belt cracked open, revealing a pair of red diamonds and a '2' in the middle of the belt.

"No more playing with guns for you," Blade said as he drew a Common Blank and threw it at the Undead, which was soon sucked into the card, which returned to Blade's hand.

"That was certainly… an experience." Mercury said after a moment.

"Trust me, there's plenty more on the way, and they'll just get weirder and weirder." Moon said with a laugh.

"And we'll explain the weirdness that was this guy and the pile of dust tomorrow when you have time." Blade said, waving the new card which depicted an armadillo in a style similar to the one they had just fought, with the suit of diamonds and the number 2 in each corner.

"Considering I likely won't have the seminar anymore, I think my schedule cleared up." Mercury said with a laugh, earning some amusement from the others, before they quickly got away when they heard the security guard finally start to come upstairs, seems he was a normal human at least.

There was no doubt that the night had been fruitful to them.

* * *

 **And there's the chapter!**

 **Also, it may be obvious to a few of you, but Kensuke's disguise was based on Emu Hojo, AKA, Ex-Aid, and we even gave him a modified version of his line about changing a patient's fate.**

 **Anyway, see you all next time!**


	7. Card 7

**Hey guys, welcome back to Trump of the Moon!**

 **Been a little while for this story, and funny part is, Timeless and I tried to work on some other stories as well.**

 **... Let's just say we have no clue what to do for those other ones, but we won't forget them, we'll probably try working on them after new years.**

 **But anyway, enjoy this chapter guys, because it's a double feature, and if you can count your episodes, you know who's showing up.**

* * *

"Wow! There are so many people!" Ami said as currently she, Usagi, and Kensuke were spending some time just walking around the local shopping district. The three were here, partly because it was the weekend, and partly because Luna recommended they take the time to do a bit of team bonding, something Kensuke agreed fully with.

"You've never been to a place like this?" Usagi asked in surprise.

"No, I just read about them in books," Ami said.

"Wow, I knew life could be busy when you're in cram school, but that's something else," Kensuke blinked.

"Yeah, you need to go out more," Usagi said with a chuckle. "Since we're here, let's have all the fun we can window-shopping!"

"O-Okay!" Ami nodded, while Kensuke followed after them with a light chuckle. The time spent was enjoyable as they went from shop to shop, simply looking at what was available, trying a few things like sunglasses, various clothes, even playing a few games that weren't available in the Crown Arcade. Overall it was a greatly enjoyable time.

"Well, I'm having fun," Kensuke chuckled as they were currently eating crepes.

"Yeah! We should do this more often!" Usagi said in agreement.

"Well...I did have a lot of fun," Ami admitted with a small smile. The group continued walking, until Usagi noticed something new. A shop holding an opening sale with a 50-70 percent discount.

"Huh, that's a pretty big sale," Kensuke mused.

"Look at all the people!" Ami marveled.

"Well, at a discount of that much, its so cheap anyone would want to see it," Usagi smiled. "Why don't we check it out?"

"I already have the watch my mom bought me though." Ami said.

"It's fine, we can still look after all." Usagi waved her off before dragging her into the story, with Kensuke following them in amusement.

Inside was well...it was a clock collector's paradise, seeing as there were all sorts of time keeping pieces, from watches, to clocks of all shapes and sizes. There were rather comical looking clocks, fancy ones, cute ones, and…

"Hey, this one looks just like Luna!" Usagi chuckled when she spotted a clock shaped like a black cat.

"Hey, it really does. Get rid of the sneaky look and add a moon on the forehead and you couldn't tell the difference," Kensuke chuckled.

"Everything's so cheap as well. Do watches normally cost so low?" Ami asked as she looked at several watches lined up under a glass casing.

"Pretty sure they cost… a LOT more." Usagi said, raising an eyebrow at the rather low price.

"Think any of these could make good presents for my parents?" Kensuke mused as he looked at the watches.

"I don't know your parents personally, so I can't really answer that." Usagi pointed out.

"Eh...it'd be hard to send it all the way there anyway, so I'd better stick to smaller things," Kensuke decided after a few minutes. "What about you two?"

"Well...I wouldn't mind the cat but…" Usagi sighed opening her wallet. "I'm a little tight for cash. Not to mention I've not been late much lately, so it should help...though it would be nice if I could use that so Mom doesn't need to keep waking me up every day…"

"I'd lend you some money, but I need to be able to pay for groceries this week." Kensuke said with a sheepish laugh.

"Guess we're all a bit short on money," Usagi laughed sheepishly.

"My allowance is rather small." Ami admitted softly.

"Well, it can't be helped. We WERE planning to window shop anyway," Kensuke chuckled.

"True," Usagi chuckled, and with that they soon left the shop. Later however…

"I'm home!" Usagi called as she walked in.

"Hey sis, mom has something for you in the kitchen." Shingo told her as he was reading a manga in the living room.

"Thanks." she shot back at him as she walked into the kitchen, looking up as her father was on a step ladder and installing something it seemed "Hey mom, hey dad."

"Oh! Usagi, perfect timing. I was out shopping with Naru and Umino's moms, and I found this new shop that had a sale going on." she said.

"Oh, you mean Clock Lock right? We stopped by and looked around a little earlier." Usagi said with a smile.

Her mother smiled "Well, I figured, even though you're getting better at waking up early, and you have your new friend Ami to help make sure you're at school on time, I figured a new clock might be good for you, so, here, I got you this." she said as she handed Usagi a wrapped package.

"Oh cool! Thanks mom." Usagi said with a smile as she opened it up, before laughing a bit at what she saw "This is the same clock I was thinking of buying for myself." she said while holding up the cat shaped clock.

With the clock in hand, she quickly went to her room and showed it to Luna. However...she was...less than pleased. "In what way does this clock look like me? I'm much cuter than this, and I don't look nearly as sneaky," Luna said.

"Funny, Kensuke said the same thing about the sneaky part," Usagi chuckled.

"Hmph. At least someone has an idea of what I look like," Luna snorted as Usagi set the alarm and soon went to sleep. The night was peaceful at first, but when the clock struck midnight, it began to glow.

Luna quickly woke up when she noticed the bright light, looking around in confusion, before climbing up onto Usagi's bed and staring at the glowing clock with narrowed eyes "What is that thing doing?" she wondered.

Her surprise didn't stop there however, as she then noticed usagi's face scrunching up in her sleep, before, to her further shock, a glow came from her forehead, and spread quickly through her room, with Luna racing out of it and seeing as the glow spread to the rest of the house, including in the room of her brother and her parents, both of which had clocks installed in them as well, the clocks all now giving off a faint glow that seemed to be trying to move outwards.

Looking around in wonder, Luna quietly returned to Usagi's room, finding the blonde girl to be sleeping peacefully with a smile, the glow now gone from her forehead.

Luna looked at her curiously "Usagi… what was that?"

The next morning, the household woke up...albeit earlier than usual.

"Its lousy that the clocks are fast, but at least we can have a relaxed meal today," Kenji said as everyone had woken up and seeing the time, gotten ready...only to see the other clocks all show its only 6:30, leaving more time than normal.

"Still, its bad they sold us faulty clocks. At least they were cheap," Shingo huffed as he ate his eggs.

"I just hope it doesn't become a habit," Usagi sighed as she finished up her meal. When the time struck 7, she was ready as Ami came so they could walk to school together.

"Morning, Usagi. Did you sleep well?" she asked politely.

"Sleep was good, though the clocks woke us up earlier. I think they might be faulty," Usagi grumbled a bit.

"Oh dear. Well...I suppose it's good that they were cheap then," Ami said as they walked to school. However, along the way they noticed something odd.

"Huh...I thought the shops usually open later than this," Usagi blinked.

"You're right. It's far too early for them to be already open," Ami frowned.

That wasn't the only oddity they found. When they got to the school...well… "Where is everyone?!" Usagi said in alarm as all the classes were empty.

"This...something is VERY wrong right now…" Ami frowned, having checked the other classes as well.

"Do you think it might be the Dark Kingdom again?" Usagi asked, worry creeping into her voice. She hoped it wasn't another kidnapping plot.

"It's certainly possible." Ami said with a frown "We should contact Kensuke and regroup."

"Right." Usagi nodded, before pulling her sleeve up a bit and opening her communicator "Kensuke! We've got trouble!"

"Does it involve people all over town acting abnormally impatient to the point of forsaking common sense and safety? Cause I just nearly got ran over by a bus this morning that decided the lane I was on was a two way," came Kensuke's less than pleased voice...though that was probably more from how he nearly got turned into a street pizza.

"ARE YOU OKAY?!" both girls shouted in alarm.

"Considering I'm talking...yeah, I'm good. Still, what's the situation on your end?" He asked with a sigh.

"The school is completely empty, with not a single student and teacher in sight." Ami told him.

"Yeesh, you too huh? University looked like a ghost town when I got there earlier… oh, and I'm seeing Mamoru walking back and looking confused, guess his school was empty too." Kensuke said.

"So it's not just us then," Usagi frowned.

"If I might suggest, get Luna and meet up at the arcade. Either we use it if its empty, or we find somewhere else to discuss," Kensuke suggested.

"Sounds like a good plan," Ami nodded.

* * *

"Okay, so we're all here. Though...isn't that the clock you were looking at yesterday?" Kensuke asked as they were gathered at the arcade.

"Yes it is. Mom bought it yesterday," Usagi nodded.

"And I found there was something rather suspicious about it, which is why it's here." Luna said as she looked at the clock with narrowed eyes.

"Why is it suspicious? You know, besides the fact it rings early?" Usagi asked with a raised eyebrow.

"You didn't see it, but it started glowing last night, it was pretty eerie, and it looked to be trying to do something to you, till you started to glow as well." Luna explained.

Usagi blinked at that "I glowed? Why would I do that?"

"Perhaps it's your powers protecting you. From what I understand, you and your family were all unaffected despite getting several clocks," Kensuke suggested.

"That makes sense," Usagi nodded, quite glad to know she and her family weren't affected.

"First things first though, we need to check on this clock," Luna said. "But before that…" she did a flip and what appeared to be a palmtop computer appeared. It was colored an aquatic green, with the symbol of mercury on it, making it clear who it was for.

"This is?" Ami blinked.

"It's a miniaturized supercomputer for Ami," Luna said. "It's actually part of Sailor Mercury's equipment."

"It's so easy to forget how ahead the Silver Millennium was from our current era," Kensuke couldn't help but whistle as Ami took the object. After initializing it, she was set. However, when she opened the clock...there was nothing inside.

"Its empty?" Usagi blinked in surprise.

"Just as I thought…" Luna frowned.

"If this doesn't just SCREAM 'Dark Kingdom', I don't know what would," Kensuke sighed. "Well, sorry Ami, but no point analyzing it. I think we all know where they're hiding with how they're operating so far…"

"The clock shop," Usagi and Luna nodded in agreement.

"Eh? They'd seriously hide in the very place they're distributing these?" Ami asked, as it seemed too...obvious…

"Trust me, they aren't the brightest." Kensuke said dryly.

* * *

"Here we are. What'll it be? Front entrance or back entrance?" Kensuke asked as he inserted the Change Beetle card into his Blay Buckle, letting it wrap around his waist and pulse lowly.

"Well...they might have traps in the back, but the front is the same too…" Ami frowned.

"...maybe we should go through the front. We can't let this go for longer or someone might get REALLY hurt," Usagi suggested in worry.

"You...might be right," Kensuke mused.

"True...with how everyone is rushing without a care, it's only a matter of time. I don't think we have the luxury to be careful this time," Luna admitted with a frown.

"Then the front door it is," Ami nodded.

"Moon Prism Power, Make Up!"

"Mercury Power, Make Up!"

"Henshin!" " **TURN UP!"**

And with that, Sailor Moon, Sailor Mercury, and Kamen Rider Blade stood ready, before rushing out of the alley and towards the store.

"Moon Tiara Action!" Sailor Moon called as she threw her tiara at the shutters, breaking a hole through them that the three jumped through, followed closely by Luna, the hole sealing itself back up shortly after.

"Be on guard, we're in enemy territory now," Blade said.

"Right," both girls nodded.

The group kept running, till they saw the saleswoman in the distance. "So you've arrived. You're earlier than I expected," she said, obscured by the shadows. "No matter, you've all come...to your doom!" she smirked, revealing her true form. It was...actually fairly normal compared to some of the things they'd seen, being a woman-like figure with blue skin, a white face with red lines over her eyes, pointy ears, and a black star on her cheek and dark blue hair.

"...surprisingly normal," Blade blinked.

"Hey you're right. Normally we get more crazy and scary looking Youma," Sailor Moon mused in agreement.

"Talk all you want, but I will be the one to show you where you will die!" the Youma said, before the large grandfather clock behind her moved, the hands turning until they hit the 12 o'clock position...though for some reason the numbers were inverted. The clock face glowed brightly before the body turned into some kind of gateway which the Youma vanished into. "Come and get me if you dare!"

"...well...if that doesn't just scream 'trap', then I don't know what will," Blade deadpanned.

"But...she went in there. Should we follow her?" Sailor Moon asked.

Mercury frowned, before taking out her computer, and a visor appeared over her eyes. Scanning the gate for a moment… "It seems there is only one way in or out," she frowned.

"So we HAVE to enter it seems…" Luna frowned.

"Well...here goes something," Blade sighed as they ran in. The view that met them was...a void. There was no other way to say it, although there were several clock shapes floating around, and the sound of ticking clocks could be heard for miles.

"Well… this place is freaky." Sailor Moon summed up.

"I suppose it makes sense for the inside of a clock though." Luna added.

"Be careful. She's no doubt left a few unpleasant surprises for us. Why else would she want us to go in here," Blade sighed.

"You'd be correct," Mercury nodded, scanning again. "There's a strange energy running through this space. Hang on," she said, carefully examining the information, before her eyes widened. "Be careful! The time in this space is erratic. If we enter a wrong area we may be negatively affected by it!" she warned.

"Negatively affected how?" Moon asked worriedly.

"If I'm right…" Mercury muttered as she looked down at her computer "There are several possibilities, time moving slower, faster, or even moving in reverse."

"So… we could become like really old ladies, or turn back into babies?" Moon summed up with a nervous swallow.

"That's...very bad," Blade gulped. "Please tell me there's a pattern to this which you can use."

"Actually...yes there is. A safe route seems to be...this way," Mercury said, pointing the direction, and with her as their guide, they managed to avoid most of the traps. However…

"Huh?" Mercury blinked after a few minutes.

"What's wrong?" Moon asked.

"The energy...its...shifting," she gasped.

"I'm gonna guess that that's bad for us," Blade groaned, to which she nodded.

"The trap positions have changed...if I recalculate, the route should be...this way," mercury said, but this time they didn't get far before… "Again?!" she gasped. "The signals, they're starting to change rapidly. At this rate, I'm not sure what path will lead us out and which won't. Even if I find one, its changing rapidly!"

"Wait, does that means we're lost?!" Moon asked in worry.

"It would appear so." Luna said fearfully.

"That's bad… is there anything we could do?" Blade asked with a frown beneath his helmet.

"Well, if one of us could somehow stop time, we'd be able to actually do something." Mercury said with a sigh.

"Stop time huh?" Blade said, before growling in annoyance "Dammit. Time Scarab could have done that. And unless the rider who sealed it up somehow finds this place…"

"You mean… our only hope is like this hyper tiny chance of a coincidence happening?" Moon asked, honestly about to cry as it seemed there was no hope for them.

Fortunately, it seemed hope WAS there, as outside of the pocket dimension, a figure had walked into the store. "So this is the place," he mused, before going to a case at the side of his belt, and pulled out a Rouze card, revealing it to be the 10 of Spades: Time Scarab. "It's no surprise you'd be attracted here. This anomaly isn't exactly...subtle for you," the figure seemed to chuckle as the card began to glow. "Alright then, if that's what you want," the figure mused, before hurling the card into the pocket dimension. "Use his powers well, Blade."

Back inside the pocket dimension, Blade's Blay Rouzer glowed suddenly, to which he pulled it out, and suddenly it opened, the cards fanning out and the empty slot for the 10 of Spades started to glow blue. "What the…?!" he blinked, before the sound of something spinning through the air was heard, and from the darkness a card actually flew in, curved, and inserted itself into the slot. "This is…!" he gasped, almost not believing what he was seeing, but the proof was right there. Sitting in the rouzer was the Time Scarab card.

"W-what just happened?" Mercury asked in confusion.

"Hey… isn't that the card that got sealed by another rider the other day?" Moon asked in recognition at seeing the number and suit of the card.

"It is. I dunno who sealed it, but somehow they found us," Blade mused. "But I'm not looking a gift horse in the mouth. Mercury, where's the exit path right now?" Blade asked.

Mercury quickly analyzed again, and pointed in a direction. That way!"

"Got it! Hold on to me when I do this!" Blade instructed, to which everyone did as they were told and he pulled out and scanned the card. " **Time!"**

Immediately the void turned monochrome, save for themselves, and not wasting time, they immediately went running down the path, Mercury leading the way, aiming to make EVERY second count.

At the exit, the Youma was gasping in surprise. Her control suddenly not responding in her pocket dimension. "What is-?!" she gasped, but right at that moment, the three exited the pocket dimension and…

"Moon Tiara Action!" Moon called out, not wasting a moment to throw her tiara which had already been removed AND charged up as they ran. Kensuke's training had made it clear that one should NOT waste any time when finishing an enemy, lest they get a chance to counter. The youma was dust before she could even fully process what was happening. With her death, the space around them started to fade and they were soon began to fade, and they were soon back in the clock shop, the Grandfather clock's face having broken with its master's defeat.

"Well...that was an experience," Luna sighed, hoping they didn't encounter such troublesome Youma again. "It was fortunate you got that card when you did."

"Yeah...it was…" Blade sighed...before his rouzer glowed again. "Huh?"

The Blay Rouzer floated out of its holster, the cards fanning out, before the Time Scarab floated out and flew away.

"What? Hey wait!" Moon said in alarm as she chased after the card, to which the others chased after her. They ran out of the store, just in time to see the card arch upwards and fly to a nearby building, where it was caught in the fingers of a new figure.

They couldn't make out much of the figure as the sun was setting, but from what they could see, he appeared to be dressed in black, with antennae on his head. His body armor was silver, with a notable red heart design to it, the same with his visor which looked like a red heart as well, making his identity clear.

"Kamen Rider...Chalice…!" Blade said in surprise. "So the other rider who was here was the rider of the Black Turtle Clan."

"So he's the guardian of the Heart Suit Undead," Luna mused, having not expected to run into another rider so soon. However, before they could say anything, Chalice looked at Blade, gave a small nod, and soon walked away, disappearing into the city.

"So… he's an ally… right?" Moon asked a bit unsurely.

"He appears to be… at least I hope so." Mercury said with a frown.

"He is… guess he just has reasons to be alone at the moment." Blade guessed. "At any rate, we should get out of here," he said, to which they did.

* * *

A few days soon passed after the incident, and like always, the town soon regained its air of normalcy. However, that did little to calm Kensuke. It wasn't that he didn't know, but the recent events have made it clearer and clearer that the Dark Kingdom were ready, able, and willing to whatever it takes to gather energy, and if the entire city had to pay the price for them to get it well...that was just too bad for the citizens…

"If only we could take the fight to them…" he frowned. For now they were able to hold the fort, but how long before the Dark Kingdom gets tired of setbacks and decides to just charge en mass? Or come up with a plan that would cause irreparable damage? They may not be the smartest, but then...and idiot doesn't know when to draw a line.

It was right as he was thinking that, that he heard the police sirens, making him look to see police cars passing by "I don't like the looks of that." he said with a frown, before continuing to walk, eventually spotting Usagi, Ami, Naru, and another of their schoolmates, just managing to hear the fourth girl talking about how some busses would disappear around these parts at 6 PM and the police had just now revealed their investigation to the public.

Frowning at that, he got closer "Those monsters look like their getting bolder." he said as he got close, getting their attention.

"You think it's like that monster that replaced my mom?" Naru asked in worry.

"Considering how pretty much every recent event seems to have been linked to those things one way or another, I wouldn't be surprised if it was," Kensuke frowned.

"Makes sense if you ask me, I just hope nothing bad is happening to the people that disappeared." Usagi said with a frown.

"Hey, maybe we should get good luck charms, just to be safe?" the other girl suggested nervously.

"Oh yeah, there's a shrine near here that sells charms." Usagi remembered "Well, it's not a bad idea."

"Could you get one for me? I'd go get it myself but my bus should be here soon, at least, I hope so, it might be delayed with all the police officers in the area." Ami requested.

"Sure, just leave it to me." Usagi told her with a nod.

"I think I'll go with you girls, just to be on the safe side." Kensuke told them.

"Are you the university student Usagi keeps talking about?" the still unnamed girl asked him.

"I most likely am." he said with a chuckle while Usagi blushed in embarrassment, before they headed towards the shrine.

Like with most shrines it was on a hill to which they had to climb a decent set of stairs, though thankfully nothing as bad as some of the things you could find in old shrines on the mountains with thousands of stairs. When they got to the top, the sign 'Hikawa Shrine' was visible, revealing a fairly standard look for a Shinto Shrine, what with its offering box, place to put prayers and pray to the local Kami, and of course a main building for the residents and a shop to sell charms and the like.

As they finished climbing, some girls from another school walked past them, talking about one thing or another, though it seemed there was some odd mention of some old man...and the love charms they just got, but the group more or less ignored it.

Heading towards the charm shop, they waited in front of it for someone to come.

"Oh! Aren't you girls all beautiful!" a voice said, making them turn to see a rather short old man standing before them, wearing typical robes of a priest "I bet you could make some fine shrine maidens. And you young man! Would you like to learn the mystical arts!"

They only had time to blink in confusion before a girl with long black hair arrived, wearing a typical shrine maiden outfit "Grandfather, stop harassing people would you? We have enough issues with the rumors going about, we don't need your antics adding to the flames," the girl scolded.

"Woah, she looks so cool." Usagi whispered in awe.

"She does have quite a strong air to her," Kensuke nodded in agreement, before he tensed as suddenly he felt some kind of...flare...of energy occur. However, before he could even think to try and find it…

"An evil aura?" the girl's eyes narrowed, and before anyone could react, she reached into her robes and pulled out a talisman, one to dispel evil. "Evil Spirits Begone!" she suddenly shouted, before throwing the talisman...right at Kensuke who was too surprised from the sudden flare to react and was nailed in the forehead, his body freezing up and he fell over.

'Da fuck?!' was the words going through Kensuke's head when he realized he couldn't move, even as Luna hopped down from Naru's arms and nudged him.

He could even hear Change Beetle growling in annoyance from within his mind, making him mentally frown 'I blame you for this.'

"Um… are you ok Kensuke?" Naru asked in worry.

"That's… strange… my tags usually only work on those with wicked hearts or spirits." the shrine maiden said with a frown.

Usagi sweated a bit as she realised if she didn't think of something Kensuke might get branded as a monster, having to wrack her brain, before she thought of something good "Well, you see, Kensuke actually told me that one of those weird monsters going around town attacked him before the new heroes managed to save him, so, maybe some of its aura lingered around him?"

'Nice job Usagi!' Kensuke cheered in his head, grateful for the quick thinking.

"I… see… it's certainly possible." the girl said, before she went and pulled off the tag from Kensuke's forehead, releasing him from the paralysis as he slumped down.

"Oh thank the dragon, that was uncomfortable." he muttered as he got back up with a groan.

The girl bowed before him "My apologies for attacking you in such a manner, my name is Rei Hino, and I wish to make up for my mistake. Please, let me offer you some tea."

Luna's ears perked up at the girl's name, before she nudged Kensuke slightly and he picked her up, climbing onto his shoulder and whispering lowly "I think the pattern may hold up."

Kensuke hummed slightly, considering that, before nodding to the girl "It's fine miss, it was just mildly uncomfortable, though if you insist, I suppose we could accept some tea."

The group was soon enjoying some tea and cookies, to which Rei began explaining. "Normally I can sense when evil auras and the like approach and even tell the future when I use the sacred flames, but lately my powers have been going haywire. I can sense such an aura being close, but never where it is exactly, and now I've even attacked someone by mistake," Rei sighed.

"That doesn't sound good," Usagi frowned.

Luna however was feeling more and more convinced that Rei could be either another Sailor Scout, or perhaps even the Princess herself. However, as things were, she'd need time to confirm that. However, any further conversations were cut short when a middle aged woman barged into the room and demanded for the head priest. Apparently she was the mother of one of the victims of the bus rumor (or not a rumor at this point), and was suspicious of his supposed special ceremony at 5:30, and thought that he was trying to force people to use the bus at 6, the very same one from the rumors. Needless to say, Rei...didn't take that well, and the woman was soon cowed before Rei's rather strong aura.

"...well...isn't she just the type you don't want to piss off," Kensuke sweat dropped, to which Usagi and her friends, and even Luna, could only nod slowly in agreement.

* * *

"...okay, I think we can all agree this REEKS of the monsters," Kensuke said as he was with Usagi and Naru outside the temple.

"I think you're right. If Rei can actually sense things like this, then maybe one of the Monsters is hiding somewhere," Naru agreed.

"Well, we can probably agree they're using the 6 o'clock bus...but the next question is how they're using it…" Usagi frowned.

"Well, why don't we start by going to take a look? It's almost 6 PM after all." Kensuke said as he looked at the watch installed on the communicator.

"We're not getting on that, are we?" Usagi gasped.

"What? Of course not. I just want to see what's going on. Knowing how...callous...these monsters can be, I doubt they'll skip a day or two to avoid suspicion," Kensuke said.

"...how is it still a rumor if it happens every day?" Naru sweat dropped.

"Never underestimate the human ability to make themselves dumber," Kensuke said flatly.

With that said, they left the shrine, heading to the area where the bus was said to disappear, and the could see several girls, a lot of them Usagi and Naru recognized from their school, all waiting at the bus stop.

"They all have charms from the shrine." Usagi noticed curiously.

"Do you think those monsters are trying to put the blame on the shrine?" Naru wondered.

"It's possible. And look at their eyes." Kensuke pointed out, the girls looking at the eyes of the ones at the bus stop, only to see they looked blank.

When the bus came on time, they all entered, the bus driving away for a bit...before the view seemed to distort and the bus actually...lifted off the ground, and vanished into what appeared to be a wormhole or some kind of portal. When it was over, the three of them were looking almost blankly at where the bus had been, their mouths hanging wide open.

"...you're right, humans really CAN make themselves stupider," Naru said blankly at the sight that only an utter idiot would dismiss as some random rumor seeing how BLATANT it was.

* * *

The next day…

"Here you go Phobos, Deimos, eat up." Rei said to a pair of a crows, holding some dried berries in her hand for them, before turning her head as she heard footsteps coming closer, blinking in surprise at the person that came "Oh, you're... Usagi right? What can I help you with?"

Usagi fidgeted a bit, wondering if this was the best idea, before figuring she probably should "Um, listen, I don't want you to take this the wrong way, and I'm not blaming you or the shrine or anything like that. But, I actually saw the bus disappear yesterday! It just lifted off the ground and entered this weird black hole looking thing."

"You saw it happen?" Rei asked in surprise, before thinking on it "A black hole is what's taking people then?"

"Well, me and my friends think it has to do with those monsters around town these days, from what we understand they like to drain people of energy." Usagi added.

"I see… so those strange monster are kidnapping people to drain them." Rei mused.

"Not just that. We saw they had charms from this shrine, so we think they might be trying to pin the blame on the shrine...or one of the monsters is hiding here and doing something to the charms," Usagi explained. "It's what they did a few times before too."

Rei frowned at that, the gears in her head turning. She HAD been having issues lately, and now that she thought about it...they WERE selling more charms lately, especially the ones to help with love. And all the factors that tied into it? She looked to where they sold charms and noticed the live-in helper, and realized...hadn't that all started when HE came around? It was then that he happened to glance her way and she quickly averted her eyes. "Mysterious eyes like ice…" she muttered, remembering the vision she had shortly before her powers went haywire.

"Is...is something wrong?" Usagi asked, worried.

"I...its nothing," Rei said, waving off her concerns. "I...thank you for the information. If one of those monsters is indeed here, then I will have to take extra precautions," she said.

"Well...alright. If you're sure," Usagi nodded hesitantly. "I'll see you another time then," she said and soon left.

Rei sighed...before noticing something on the ground.

"Did she drop this?" she wondered, as she picked up a red pen with a gold colored cap that featured the mark of Mars on it.

* * *

"So you told Rei?" Kensuke checked.

"Yeah, though she seemed suspicious about something," Usagi said.

"Perhaps she has an idea of who or what might be the Youma, but isn't comfortable with saying it," Ami mused.

"Understandable. It's not exactly something you'd want to scream to the world, especially if you're not sure," Kensuke sighed. "Though if nothing else, that more or less confirms the idea that the Dark Kingdom is using the shrine somehow," he sighed in annoyance. "Dammit, at this rate we'll HAVE to get on that bus."

"But, if nobody has been able to get back, how will we?" Usagi asked with a frown.

"That's why I don't like the plan," Kensuke admitted. "Any ideas, Luna? Maybe some magic we can use to either keep the portal open or reel us back in like fish if needs be?"

"The analogy aside...I MIGHT have an idea," Luna mused. "Perhaps if we can analyze the portal, then there may be a way to either unlock it ourselves, or as you say, make a tether of some kind."

"Well...it's almost 6, so...perfect timing I guess," Kensuke shrugged, to which they soon got into position.

"By the way, I was wondering something," Ami said as she got the computer ready.

"What is it?" Kensuke asked.

"It's about the Time card from the other day. Why did it suddenly fly out of your hands?" she asked.

Kensuke sighed "It's kind of an annoying thing. The cards, even when sealed, are still sentient to a degree, and usually respond to the rider that sealed them. Obviously, I wasn't the one that sealed Time Scarab, so while he allowed me to use his power, he sees Chalice as his actual holder till they decide otherwise."

"Ah...that's kind of annoying…" Usagi blinked.

"Eh, it's not THAT bad. Just gotta make do," Kensuke shrugged. "Anyway, the bus is coming, so get ready."

"Right," the girls nodded as Ami had the computer ready. Like clockwork the bus came, the hypnotized looking people went in, and the bus was soon on a trip to who knows where. "I see…" Ami frowned. "I think...I think this might work…" she said after a few minutes.

"What did you find?" Luna asked.

"There's...a certain I guess...signal...that this portal locks on to. If we use it, we should be able to force it open. Furthermore...I think it might be possible to use the tether as well," she said.

"Okay, then we've got a plan. Some of us go in, while at least one of us has to stay outside," Kensuke nodded.

"But...who should do what?" Usagi asked.

* * *

"...why do I have to go in there again?" Usagi asked miserably as it was the next day, and here they were once again waiting for the bus.

"Because of the three of us, Ami's our best bet to not only opening the portal, but possibly pulling us back too if necessary," Kensuke said. The previous day, Ami had been able to decode the energy signature needed, and with Luna's help, they'd prepared a 'tether' of magic between Ami's pen and Usagi's brooch. Furthermore, with some work, they'd even managed to calibrate the communicators to HOPEFULLY be able to work inside wherever they were going, though that one was a dice roll. "So swell your chests and let's get on the bus to whatever insane plot the Dark Kingdom cooked up next," Kensuke sighed.

"No…" Usagi sighed, but knew there was no getting out of this. Kensuke would probably drag her in if she tried chickening out now, especially since it was already agreed on.

With that the two and Luna boarded the bus, the bus went off and into the portal they went.

Meanwhile…

Rei was ready. After the previous day, she had consulted the flames again, with her suspicions and the information she'd gained, she felt the clarity of her vision return as if pushing away the fog that had settled. Chanting an incantation, the flames soon revealed an image, the image of the very man she was suspecting as the source of the evil aura. When she saw that, she felt anger that this man had been using the temple, her home, as a means for his evil. However, she remembered what Usagi had said. If this was indeed the actions of one of the monsters that had been plaguing the city lately, then it would not be wise to act rashly. That was why now she was ready. She made sure her grandfather was safe, and that the man was indeed in the room before her. Making sure the charms and talismans were ready, she opened the door.

"Ms. Rei, what seems to be the problem?" he asked.

"You can drop the act. I know you're the source of the evil aura that's been plaguing the shrine, and I can guess you're also the one behind the recent incidents with the cursed bus!" she said with a glare, her crows, Phobos and Deimos, flanking her and looking less than pleased with the man before them as well. "Now, reveal your true nature! Evil Spirit Begone!" Rei called out, drawing a talisman and hurling it towards the man...who smirked as the talisman was stopped dead and turned to ashes before it even touched him.

"Not bad. To think you actually saw through me. No matter, you too may join the others!" he smirked before a dark portal of some kind opened up, and before Rei and her crows could react, she was sucked in, her protective charms and talismans all burning away as they tried to resist the dark power.

* * *

At the same time, the bus that had entered the portal came to a halt...revealing another pocket dimension.

Buses were just floating around in the air, with strange green orbs strewn about, while the ground appeared to be made of sand.

Everything seemed silent for a moment, until…

" **Turn up!"**

Kamen Rider Blade kicked the bus driver out by the window, jumping out of it, followed by Sailor Moon.

"You freaks are getting crazier with every scheme!" Blade snarled as the bus driver landed on her feet and smirked, transforming into her true Youma form, a rather zombie looking monster that appeared to be wearing armor over most of her body, with shoulder length red hair.

"So, you followed me did you? Well, when I defeat you, I'm sure Master Jadeite will be happy to know your identities." the Youma said with a grin.

"Okay, first of all, if by some miracle you DO manage to beat us, revealing our identities will be completely moot," Blade said dryly. "And second of all, you say that like we're gonna let you get away."

However, before they could actually DO anything, another portal appeared, and out came Rei. "Wait, what?!" Moon gasped in surprise.

"Heh, another human for me to harvest," the Youma smirked and moved to catch Rei...if not for Blade stopping her.

"Oh no you don't!" he growled, pushing the youma back. However, this had the side effect of leaving Rei to keep falling towards well…

"Huh? Wha! I got ya!" Moon panicked...only for Rei to land on top of her, pushing her to the ground and now lying face planted on the ground.

"Ouch...what did I...land on?" Rei groaned.

"Please get up." Moon said with a groan, making Rei look down, before quickly getting off.

"Oh my god I'm so sorry." she said apologetically.

"It's fine." Moon said as she got up, before grabbing her tiara "Moon Tiara Action!" she shouted as she threw it, with Blade jumping out of the way at the last second, right as the tiara seemed to expand and wrapped around the Youma, trapping her as he stepped back.

"Alright, time for the finisher," Blade said, reaching to unfold his cards. However…

"Wait!" Luna said, causing him to stop, while Rei gasped in shock.

"Th-the cat talked!" she gasped.

"Yeah, she's a magic cat," Moon said, hoping that would help calm her down.

"Don't worry about that right now. Take out the pen you found earlier!" Luna instructed.

"This?" Rei blinked, pulling out the pen from before.

"Yes, that's the one. Raise it up and call out 'Mars Power, Make-Up'. I believe that you are one of the Sailor Scouts, Rei. You are Sailor Mars, who commands the power of fire!"

"I don't really understand what's going on… but alright." Rei said as she held up the pen "Mars Power, Make Up!"

With a burst of flame from the pen covering her, just a second later, and she was transformed, wearing her own sailor outfit, with the skirt and collar being red along with the bow on the back, while the one on the front was purple with a red gem in the middle, the jewel on her tiara also being red, with star shaped earrings on her ears, and wearing red high heels on her feet.

"So Rei was the third Sailor Scout after all!" Moon said in awe when the transformation was done.

"Heh, maybe that pattern is going to be helpful after all." Blade couldn't help but smirk, right as the Youma forced the Tiara off, and set her sights on Sailor Mars.

"Wh-what's going on?!" Mars gasped in surprise, looking at herself. However, she didn't have long as the Youma went for her, Blade tensing, ready to intercept, but his instincts were telling him to stand back for now.

Mars saw the incoming Youma and her gaze hardened. "Evil Spirit, I won't allow you to get away with this!" she called out as she brought her hands together in a way that almost looked like a pistol, and flames began forming at the tip of her fingers. "Fire... Soul!" she called out, the flames shooting forward, the Youma, who was caught mid-dash, the flames engulfing her and she was soon ashes in moments.

"Wow...once again, never piss HER off," Blade sweat dropped.

"Wow…" Moon gasped at the power just displayed. However, that's when she noticed something. "The portal is closing! We gotta call Ami!"

"Right!" Blade nodded as both of them took out their communicators. "Ami, get us out now!"

"Right!" came the voice from the other end, and back in real world, Ami focused on her Henshin Pen. The blue glow emanated from it, and the Portal began opening again, sustained by her power. "Now everyone, get out of there!"

"Wait...how do we get out of here?!" Moon realized.

"Crap! We didn't think that far!" Luna realized, as the portal was up in the sky and they were down here. Their answer came when another bus came through the portal, and sitting in the driver seat was…

"Tuxedo Kamen!" Moon cheered, seeing the masked man driving the bus towards them.

"...where the heck did he get that?" Blade blinked in surprise as the bus touched down.

"Are you actually asking questions or are you just going to get on?" Tuxedo Kamen asked him with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah, ok, fair point." Blade relented, before they hurried up and tied all the buses together to tow them out.

"Friend of yours?" Mars asked curiously.

"Technically… I think… he's really awesome though." Moon said with a small cheer, while Mars rolled her eyes as the group made their escape with all the victims.

* * *

 **And there's the chapter!**

 **Yeah, we already got Mars, considering there was only one episode between her and Mercury.**

 **Also, Chalice appears before Blade!**

 **There's a lot of stuff going on behind the scenes of the battles, which will get explained later, but for now, see ya next time everyone!**


	8. Card 8

**Hello everyone and welcome to the next chapter!**

 **Not much to say other than it's time for the next episodes.**

 **Hope you enjoy!**

* * *

Kensuke frowned as he was currently walking out of campus, classes over for the day. However, his mind was focused on the recent events lately, how they'd found a third Sailor Senshi, the escalating plots of the Dark Kingdom, and the biggest confirmation he'd found by himself, Tuxedo Kamen's identity. Still though...the details behind those were...unexpected...to say the least.

* * *

 _It was after they'd managed to get the people back safely, and the police came to which they left the rest to them. However, as they were splitting up to avoid the commotion, he noticed Tuxedo Kamen making his own escape, and took a detour to confront him and lay a suspicion he'd had to rest._

" _Hold on!" Blade called after the man, making him pause and turn his head slightly._

" _Yes? Is something the matter?" Tuxedo Kamen asked curiously._

" _I'm figuring this out right now… is that you Mamoru?" Blade asked bluntly._

 _Tuxedo Kamen seemed to stiffen for a moment...before chuckling. "I guess I shouldn't be surprised you figured it out… Kensuke," he said. "You always did know him well."_

" _Know him well? Wait… you just admitted it, but then you're acting like you're not him. Which is it?" Blade frowned._

" _I am yet I'm not. I am Mamoru Chiba yet I'm not at the same time, for when I'm Tuxedo Kamen, Mamoru Chiba is not aware, yet when I'm Mamoru Chiba, Tuxedo Kamen is aware," he explained._

 _Blade frowned beneath his mask as he made sense of the phrase in his mind, before it dawned on him "You're a split personality from Mamoru. He doesn't know you're a part of him, but you're completely aware of him, aren't you?"_

 _Tuxedo Kamen nodded "Correct, Mamoru has yet to know I exist. It's possible that once I achieve my goal, he and I will finally become the same in mind."_

" _And what would your goal be?" Blade asked, knowing this was the most important part._

 _Tuxedo Kamen frowned, but not in anger "I search for the mythical Silver Crystal. That is all I know, not even its appearance. Those words have been in my mind as long as I can remember. I feel it is also why Mamoru has no memory of his childhood. I hope it shall be the key in awakening those memories within him, and explaining my purpose. It's why I help Sailor Moon. For some reason I can't understand, I feel she will guide me to it."_

" _I see. So for now business as usual?" Blade checked._

" _Pretty much. I trust you'll keep this to yourself for now as long as it doesn't cause any problems, yes?" Tuxedo Kamen asked._

" _...it won't make a difference either way, so alright. I'll keep the secret for now, but if it ever becomes dangerous…" Blade said._

" _You'll tell them, I know. That's the kind of person you are, loyal to your friends and with their best interest at heart. It's no wonder why Mamoru considers you a good friend. We both know we can count on you when the chips are down," Tuxedo Kamen nodded._

* * *

Sighing again, Kensuke took a turn that would take him to the Hikawa Shrine. The little secret he was now hiding from the girls aside, they had agreed on a meeting for today. However, when he got there...well...it seemed Luna had been TRYING to talk to them about something, but between Usagi and Rei talking about a manga, and Ami focused on an encyclopedia...the long suffering look Luna had spoke volumes. "Uh...is this a bad time?" he asked half jokingly. The tick mark that appeared on Luna's head told him how much she appreciated that joke.

"Honestly, we've finally gained 3 Sailor Scouts and you three are acting like that," Luna scolded. "We're not going to go anywhere in that case."

"Give em a break, Luna," Kensuke placated. "They're brand new to the role in Rei's case, and Ami hasn't even been one for very long. It's a little much to expect everyone to act like pros from day one, not to mention their… huh, just realised I never asked, how old are you girls?"

"14 years old." Usagi said, which Rei and Ami both echoed.

"Right, see? 14 years old. Girls their age don't usually have to deal with this kind of issue." Kensuke said with a nod.

"I suppose that makes sense." Luna muttered.

"By the way, how old are you Kensuke?" Usagi asked curiously.

"19 years old, and if we were in America, I'd be under suspicion of something for just talking to you girls." he said with a joking laugh.

That earned an awkward sweat drop from the girls. "A-anyway," Ami said, hoping to change the subject that just got awkward. "Since we're all gathered, what did you want to talk about, Luna?"

"Right." Luna cleared her throat "Usagi already knows, and you know a small part of it Ami, but let me state our goal. First and foremost, we must locate the princess and protect her, as well as finding the remaining Sailor Scout, Sailor Jupiter. Secondly, we have to deal with the forces of the Dark Kingdom, they are after the princess, and the energy of the masses for currently unknown reasons."

"But… why is the Dark Kingdom here, and why do we have the power to fight them?" Rei pointed out.

"Oh yeah, you said you were looking for us, but why is that?" Usagi asked as well, remembering that all of them somehow had this power.

Luna sighed, knowing it was bound to come up. "It's because of something that happened a long time ago. Once there were kingdoms that spread through the Solar System. Collectively they were known as the Silver Millenium. It was a peaceful kingdom ruled by Queen Serenity the Fourth, till the day that the Dark Kingdom attacked. The battle was fierce and it ended with the destruction of the Silver Millenium, but the Queen with her great power managed to seal them away. However, she knew that the Dark Kingdom might one day return, so with the last of her magic, she sent the soul of the her daughter, Princess Serenity the Fifth, her guardians, the Sailor Scouts, and several others who were slain in battle to the future so that they could be reincarnated," Luna explained. "Other than that...I'm unsure," she sighed. "I was put into suspended animation so I may one day aid and guide the Princess and the Scouts, but in the process, some of my memory was lost…"

"That's the major deal, and the records from the tribes have a bit more. The Prince of Earth at the time, Endymion, was apparently in love with the Moon Princess, and went to her aid with his guardians when the Dark Kingdom attacked. From what you're saying, it's possible he and his own guardians were sent to the future as well." Kensuke added.

"Tribes?" Rei blinked. "How do you know that and how old is this information?"

"...give or take a few thousand years old," Kensuke shrugged. "Right, you and Ami didn't hear this one. I've got my own stake in this fight. A VERY long time ago, the Clan I belong to, consisting of four Tribes, was entrusted to watch over the seals of some very powerful objects. The sealed forms of 52 immortal monsters. Due to Prince Endymion's warning, we were able to go into a sort of hibernation and survived the attack that devastated the Silver Millenium. However, during that time, the seals we were protecting were weakened, and have steadily grown weaker over the centuries, till they've finally broken. My job is to defeat and re-seal the Undead so that a new seal may be made once again."

"Like the monster you sealed the night I first became Mercury?" Ami asked.

"Yeah, Bullet Armadillo, so far I also have Slash Lizard, Thunder Deer, Kick Locust, Screw Mole, and Change Beetle sealed, though Change Beetle, along with Change Mantis, Change Spider and Change Stag chose to ally themselves to us, and thus are willingly helping to seal, with Change Beetle partnered to me, and three others with a similar power to mine out there in the world, one of them in Japan at this moment and having sealed Time Scarab already, and of course, Spirit Human quickly let himself be sealed as he was the one that began the clan in the first place."

"Wait, one of the very monsters you're fighting was the one who started your clan in the first place?!" Rei asked in alarm. Suddenly she was finding Kensuke to be quite suspicious.

Kensuke realized what he said and sighed. "I guess to make that clear, we need to get to the very beginning. Back when this world was still new, a 'game' was played, with the bet being the future of this planet. 52 Monsters, the Undead, were created to fight one another by god. The winner would have their progeny become the dominant race of the planet. As you can probably guess, Spirit Human was the winner, and thus we, his progeny, are the dominant race of this world. However, with the Undead released and the Stone of Sealing apparently somewhere in Japan, the signal is out for a new Battle Royal to begin. I don't know what will happen exactly, but assuming this one is legit, then if an Undead OTHER than Spirit Human, or in this case, humanity, were to win, the order of the world would be tipped over and humanity will lose its place as the dominant species of the planet."

The result was, quite obviously, a stunned silence, the two girls trying to wrap their heads around the information, and even Usagi looked uncomfortable at hearing him outright say if they lose, humanity would end.

The first to recover was Ami, who rubbed her temples with a wide eyed look "This… throws many, and I do mean MANY, theories about evolution, as well as several historical facts, out the window."

"Yeah well, that's the truth that my Clan has known, and the proof of it is right there on the table. I'd show you Spirit Human too, but Chalice no doubt has that card," Kensuke sighed. He knew this would be very heavy.

Finally, Rei recovered as well "This… part of me wants to scream that it makes no sense and that you're wrong… but why would you lie about this? Especially when Usagi and Ami have both encountered some of those monsters." Rei said with a sigh, before frowning "It's still rather shocking that God decided to choose the dominant race this way though."

"Not really. Just look out in nature and you can see the law behind it all the time. Survival of the Fittest. Even if you don't see it as much with humans its still there. Stronger more talented individuals tend to excel more than others, those who learn and adapt quickly rise up faster than those who don't. Sure for us it's not as final as animals have it, and we have the choice to help others so they can also rise up, but in the end, survival of the fittest is still there," Kensuke sighed. "That's why no matter what I fully intend to seal away every last Undead so that we can prove to the stone once again the determination and hidden strength that allowed our progenitor to win the first Battle Royal."

"Well… it's a bit hard to believe still, but I suppose you have one of the tougher battles, having to ensure humanity doesn't go extinct." Rei said with a sigh.

"You could say that again. Ideally, I hope to be able to at least collect as many of the lower ranked Undead first before I encounter one of the Royals," Kensuke sighed.

"Royals?" Ami blinked.

"Undead are divided like a deck of cards. So the Royals are the Jack, Queen, and King Undeads," Usagi said, speaking up. "I think they can also pretend to be humans so they could be anywhere and we wouldn't know."

"An immortal monster pretending to be a human...yeah, I can see how that'd be a problem," Rei agreed.

"In other words, aside from our mission to find the Princess and defeat the Dark Kingdom, we also need to aid Kensuke and the other Riders in sealing the Undead," Luna said. "While it may not be our primary mission, it is still our duty to protect the world," she said.

"It's certainly going to be a dangerous mission, but it has to be done." Ami said with a nod.

"Thanks for the help," Kensuke nodded gratefully.

"You're helping us too, so it's only fair," Usagi smiled.

"So, Undead aside for now, how's finding clues on our Princess coming along?" Kensuke asked. At that Luna sweat dropped a bit.

"It's...a work in progress…" she groaned.

"I guess finding a reincarnated Princess is easier said than done," Ami mused.

"Do you at least have any clues on how we can identify her?" Rei asked.

"Well...being of the royal family, she'll no doubt have strong magical powers. That or her royal blood carried on to this era, so maybe she might be a princess in this life just as she was in the past," Luna said.

"Vague, but better than nothing," Kensuke sighed.

"Well...since we don't have any solid leads, perhaps we should focus on handling incidents that might be connected to the Dark Kingdom," Ami suggested.

"Sounds good to me," Rei nodded.

"Do you know something like that?" Usagi asked.

"As a matter of fact…" Ami started, before pulling out a newspaper and putting it on the table and pointing at an article.

"Dreamland?" Luna blinked, reading the article.

"Dreamland?" Kensuke repeated, and his head brought up imagery of a star shaped planet on which a pink puffball lived and fought against a gluttonous and greedy penguin king.

"Oh! It's that new amusement park that opened recently!" Usagi said in excitement.

"But...what's wrong with it?" Rei asked.

"Well...of the people who went to it last week, fifty people have gone missing," Ami said.

"Missing people in a new place? Where does THAT sound familiar?" Kensuke said dryly.

"The Dark Kingdom needs to get some new materials," Usagi agreed just as dryly.

"It's THAT common?" Rei asked.

"Their plots have been pretty obvious so far." Usagi sighed, before starting to count off her fingers "The first one at Osa-P, the fortune teller, Midnight Zero, the gym, the Chanela incident, that time with Yusuke Amade, that other time with the talent show, Crystal Seminar, Clock Lock, and then the other day when you joined."

"They're all pretty noticeable once they get off the ground," Kensuke sighed.

"I'm honestly not sure if that's comforting or not," Rei groaned.

"Just be glad it means we can respond faster than if it was a really covert operation," Ami sighed.

* * *

Dreamland well...it really did live up to its name, albeit more in the 'fairy tale' amusement park sense rather than the other Dreamland Kensuke was thinking. Of course, it wasn't all fun and cheers, as unsurprisingly the management office had to deal with a crowd asking about the disappearances.

The group watched curiously as the people pushed at each other, trying to get information, asking about the 50 missing people and if the rumors were true.

Unsurprisingly, management denied all those claims… and then pushed everyone out of the office.

"Talk about extreme measures." Kensuke said with a sweatdrop.

"Though I don't think they'd be able to admit it even if they could," Ami mused.

"True...that could get the park shut down," Luna frowned.

"Not to mention they're not necessarily part of the scheme if what you told me is true," Rei added.

"That's true. These schemes usually work like parasites. They get the benefits while whoever they're attaching to has to deal with the issues and they don't give a damn," Kensuke frowned...before he noticed something. "By the way...where'd Usagi go?"

"Right here." Usagi said as she came back… and had an ice cream cone in her hands.

"Really?" Rei asked dryly.

"Hey, I was hungry, and besides, their cheap here, surprisingly." Usagi said in her own defense.

"...she's got a point," Kensuke admitted. "Work or not, we already paid the fee and everything to come here. It's...kind of a waste if we don't at least use SOME of the facilities."

Rei sighed "Alright, fine, I'll give you that one. At least it'll help us blend in I guess."

"Besides, I know when to have work and when to have fun." Usagi added as she ate her ice cream at a slow pace.

"You DO get serious when the time calls for it, I'll give you that." Luna said with a nod.

"But, for the sake of what we need to do, if anyone wants to get on a ride, try to pick one that allows you to see the park or see more things. At least then we can try to keep a lookout for anything odd," Ami suggested.

"That's fair," everyone nodded...before they stared at where Usagi was, looking a little pale, though Kensuke was quickly calming down.

"Is...something wrong?" Usagi blinked.

"Uh...behind you…" Luna gulped, to which Usagi looked...and saw the lion standing behind her. A dust cloud was soon where she had been, and suddenly she'd jumped into Kensuke's arms...in a rather familiar way.

'...now I know how Shaggy felt everytime Scooby jumped into his arms…' Kensuke mentally sweat dropped.

"Lion!" Usagi screamed.

"Wh-what's one doing here?!" Rei asked in alarm.

"I don't think its a real one though," Kensuke said. "If it was, there'd be a LOT more commotion right now."

"You'd be correct," a new voice said, to which they turned to the source and saw a young woman in a pink princess dress with pale pink hair and a tiara on her head, holding an apple in her hand "This lion is mechanical."

As she said that, the lion bowed "Good day to you."

"Ah! You're the Dream Princess!" Usagi said, apparently recognizing her, as she'd suddenly gotten off of Kensuke's arms and was now going closer to said Princess.

"So this thing's mechanical, huh?" Kensuke mused. "It's very well made."

"Yes, the animals here are all controlled via remote," the Princess said as she fiddled with her apple for a bit, to which several more animals of various sizes and species came closer, all of them mechanical.

However, during the display, Rei gave the Princess a rather suspicious look. "Somethings...wrong.." she frowned. However, before she could go further, she felt something pull her by the collar and she suddenly did a rather impressive double backflip before she landed on the back of the mechanical bear, looking a little dizzy from the sudden acrobatics.

Usagi had to clamp her hands over her mouth to stop herself from laughing, while the other sweatdropped awkwardly "Um… are you ok Rei?" Ami asked.

"I'll be fine once everything stops spinning." Rei said dizzily.

"Oh, before I forget, there shall be a special event at the candy castle later, I hope to see you there." the Dream Princess said before walking off.

"She seems nice," Ami mused with a small smile.

"I...wouldn't say that," Rei said, finally getting her head back on straight and getting off the bear.

"Something wrong?" Usagi blinked.

"Well…" Rei sighed, before explaining.

"A strange aura around her, huh?" Kensuke mused. "Definitely sounds suspicious."

"Should we keep an eye on her then?" Luna asked.

"Probably a good idea, but let's not jump to conclusions just yet," Kensuke sighed.

"That makes sense. Unless we confirm that she's the Youma involved in this incident, we can't act recklessly," Ami agreed.

"...let's watch the show then," Usagi said.

"Were you even paying attention?" Rei groaned.

"If she's the Youma, then the show would be the best time for her to pull something, where everyone is away from the crowds," Usagi countered.

Rei opened her mouth, then closed it again. "That's...a very good point…" she admitted.

"So we've got one avenue to investigate. Still though, we probably should investigate the rest of the park too while we can," Luna mused.

"The park is pretty big though. Should we split up?" Ami asked.

"Probably the only way we can cover this whole place," Kensuke mused.

"Then I'll go with Ami and Kensuke, and Usagi can be with Rei," Luna said, deciding for them.

"Right, well good luck girls." Kensuke said to Usagi and Rei as he walked away with Ami and Luna.

"Same to you two!" Usagi said as they walked away.

"Now then… where to begin?" Rei mused.

"I guess the best we can do for now is look around a bit." Usagi said with a shrug.

Rei sighed "I guess so yeah." and with that said, the two of them started to look around the park for anything that might help prove the Dream Princess was the Youma, without having to go to show.

As a result they were currently riding on a little train with what appeared to be a panda as the conductor. The train was intended to take them around the park, so it was a good as any way to see the place.

"This feels so childish." Rei said with an embarrassed blush.

Usagi shrugged "If you ask me, there's worse situations." she said… and then the train suddenly came to a halt and she bumped her head into the back of the person in front of her "Ouch, sorry about that." she said while rubbing her head with a wince.

"I'll live." the man said, turning around to reveal it was Mamoru, who smirked a bit "Hey there Usagi, hanging out with a new friend?"

"Oh, hey Mamoru." Usagi said, a bit surprised, but she wasn't really holding a grudge at him anymore "Yeah, this is Rei, we met a few days ago."

"That so? Nice to meet ya. I'm Mamoru Chiba," he said with a small smile.

"Rei Hino," Rei said politely. "So you're a friend of Usagi's?"

"More like an acquaintance," Mamoru admitted with a light chuckle. He doubted they were quite on 'friends' level at the moment. "So...you two enjoying the park?"

"It's fun," Usagi nodded. "Though...why are you riding this train? Wanted to see the whole park easily too?"

"...that and a few other reasons. Don't ask. Please," Mamoru groaned the last bit out.

The girls decided to not push on the subject.

The ride continued on for a while, before the sound of the PA came on, announcing that the show in the Candy House would be starting soon. Gasping, Usagi asked the panda to stop, but when it said no...well...they WERE on a slow train, so she just jumped off, Rei soon following as they headed for the Candy House.

"There you two are, we almost were gonna go in without you," Kensuke said as they arrived, seeing as the show would start in about 5 minutes.

"Sorry we were almost late," Rei sighed.

"That's not an issue. For now, we need to decide who should go in," Luna said.

"That's...a tough one. Who should go in if this IS a trap?" Usagi frowned.

"...I'll go," Ami said.

"What?" the group gasped.

"If we look at how our situation is, I feel I'd be best to go," Ami said. "If needs be you all have better offensive options than me, and I can at least try to figure out what the enemy is up to."

"Actually, now that you mention it, try connecting the Computer with the communicators," Luna said, causing them to blink. Ami did as she was told, and suddenly, there was a sort of image on the surface of the communicators. "With this, we can see what the computer sees."

"I get it, so scouting/recon essentially," Kensuke nodded.

"Alright then, I'll be sure to see what I can find," Ami nodded, before she soon went inside, the door closing when it was time for the show.

Kensuke walked up to it and examined it. "Locked tight. Why am I not surprised?" he frowned.

"Should we look for another way in?" Usagi wondered.

"That or be ready to break these down." Rei added.

"Let's hang on for a moment, and see what Ami finds. Then we break the door down. No point waiting longer than necessary, right?" Kensuke reasoned.

"That's fair," the others nodded. Moving away a bit so nobody would notice them, they checked the communicators. So far things seemed good...until the Princess let out a cloud of pink-red smoke from her mouth, and the feed becoming wobbly, and then the apple began to shine and it seemed Ami fell over.

"...well, I've seen enough. Suit up girls cause it's time for some forced entry," Kensuke said flatly.

"No argument here." Usagi said a frown "Moon Prism Power, Make Up!"

"Mars Power, Make Up!"

"Henshin!" " **Turn Up!"**

Once suited up, a quick strike was all Blade needed to cut the door down, the trio rushing in quickly.

Running into the pathway to the main area, they were soon met with a familiar face. "Had a feeling you'd come to fight us," Blade frowned.

"We know what you really are, so stop hiding behind that face and show yourself, Youma!" Sailor Moon declared. "We won't let you use the people who come here for your evil plans! For that we will punish you!"

"And drop the disguise. There's no point pretending to be a human anymore!" Mars added.

"Oh my, I've been found out have I?" the Dream Princess said, unfazed "Well then, I suppose it's time to drop the act." she said… before her head started shaking… and then retracted into her body, followed by her legs pulling up into her dress.

"...okay, that's honestly pretty disturbing," Blade gulped, while Moon and Mars freaked out a little at the sudden action.

The body began spinning for a bit, before it changed from a bright princess dress to a darker more evil witch styled one, in dark red and dark purple, the sleeves disappearing from her dress, exposing her upper arms, showing her skin to now be green and seemed to be made of wood, with the joints even looking like they belonged on a doll. Eventually the body stopped spinning, and the head popped out again, looking like that of a wooden doll's and with empty eyes...which soon rolled back into place. All in all, despite her tame appearance, the entire process actually made her MORE intimidating than the average Youma. "I'm the Youma, Murid. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance," she said in the same almost polite tone.

"...okay...this got weird fast…" Moon said more than a little unnerved by the entire transformation.

"Surprisingly polite, but sadly we don't intend to know you for very much longer," Mars frowned, swallowing her own unnerved feelings.

"Oh, how scary," Murid said. "Why don't you all enjoy a nice dream," she said before opening her mouth and exhaling a burst of dark red smoke which hit them face first.

"What the heck?!" the three of them demanded, before the view seemed to change for them. They were now suddenly in a forest of some kind, and the sound of hooves were suddenly heard.

"This must be some kind of illusion the Youma created!" Luna said in alarm.

"Illusion huh? Whatever monster she makes, bring it!" Moon said.

The sound of hooves came closer as the mist parted, revealing….

"...really?" the four of them deadpanned at the sight before them. It was a pair of white horses straight out of a fairy tale. The first had Tuxedo Kamen as a rider and the second had...a feminine figure with a veiled dress and seemingly kind eyes peeking out of it.

"She isn't even trying." Blade said with an annoyed sigh as he palmed his mask.

"Yeah, I mean… as tempting as getting on a horse with Tuxedo Kamen would be, I'm not THAT stupid to forget where we were 5 seconds ago." Moon said, honestly feeling insulted that Murid thought she would fall for this.

The three of them looked at each other, before nodding in silent agreement.

"Fire Soul!"

"Moon Tiara Action!"

The two attacks cut through the illusions, and soon merged together to create a flaming disc. Where the combined attack flew, it forced Murid to avoid the attack, but…

" **Slash! Thunder!"**

"Lightning Slash!" Blade called out as he slashed her, pushing her back, as her wooden body was...surprisingly sturdy. Too bad for her, that put her in the way for the returning disc, which cut and burned her, causing her to crumble to dust while her apple fell to the ground, forgotten by the four who ran down the hall, more focused on reaching their friend. So intent on reaching Ami did they not notice as a certain figure landed in the corridor, looking at their running backs with a raised eyebrow.

"Well then, they certainly didn't need much of my help for this one." Tuxedo Kamen said as he picked up the apple that Murid dropped, before crushing it in his hand, releasing the stolen energy from it's hold. "A bit hasty, but I can't blame them for wanting to make sure the people were okay," he said with a small chuckle as the last of the energy went back to its owners, before he too made his exit.

The three heroes and one cat soon arrived at the main room, just in time to see the energy return to the people, and among them, Ami who was slowly getting up. "You beat her," Ami managed to say with a tired smile.

"Only cause you gave us a preview of what she was up to," Blade said as they helped her up, and discreetly got away before the other victims noticed them there. The energy was returned so they should all be fine.

Some time later, the group was walking through the park, watching as the section with the candy castle was cordoned off by police who had recently arrived on the scene.

"I doubt the park is going to stay open long after this." Rei said.

"Too bad, without the whole Dark Kingdom thing, this place could have been fun." Usagi said with a sigh.

"Just like many other places that ended up being Dark Kingdom schemes." Kensuke said with a chuckle.

"Now that you mention it, maybe that's the criteria they go with? Places that most people would enjoy using often?" Ami mused.

"It's certainly a possibility, we should keep it in mind for future cases." Luna suggested.

"For now, let's just enjoy the win," Kensuke chuckled as they enjoyed the remainder of the day. The park was still open after all, so they might as well enjoy it while they still could.

* * *

"Well now, aren't you on thin ice," an irritatingly familiar voice said.

Jadeite glared at the source of the voice, unsurprisingly it was Kujaku. "That's quite a mouth for someone who hasn't done anything," he glared.

"On the contrary. I've been QUITE busy," Kujaku chuckled. "Not that that's what you should be concerned about," he smirked.

Jadeite growled lowly at the words, but before he could do anything, the two were interrupted by another person approaching them, a young woman with long, straight turquoise hair, a short blue dress, long white gloves, and white high heels.

"Oh, now this is a surprise, one of Beryl's most trusted Youma comes to see us." Kujaku said with a chuckle.

"Thetis… why are you here?" Jadeite asked with narrowed eyes.

"That's rather cold Lord Jadeite, especially when I adore you so." the youma said with a smile as she walked towards Jadeite and caressed his cheek, the man simply look at her unamused, before he removed her hand.

"I don't have time for your games Thetis." Jadeite said simply as he turned around to leave.

"What about if I told you I had developed the perfect plan to gather energy." Thetis said, smiling as Jadeite halted mid step, before looking back at her from over his shoulder.

"... Go on." he said after a brief moment.

Thetis laughed lightly "I call it Operation: Romantic Cruise."

Kujaku chuckled "This should be interesting… in fact, let me lend you an extra pair of hands." he said, before snapping his fingers, and moments later, footsteps were heard, as a vague figure appeared behind him.

* * *

"In the middle of the night on the ocean… It's world for just the two of you. On a night like this, you'll feel like you can talk about anything. Romantic Cruise for lovers. Finally leaving on its maiden voyage tomorrow!"

Kensuke rose an eyebrow at the ad that just aired on TV, sitting on his couch in the morning as he had a bit of time before classes so he was seeing if anything good was on "Who would want to spend romantic couples time… while surrounded by hundreds of other couples?" he wondered, unable to see that cruise as any sort of good idea. Then again, there were all sorts of people out there that'd be too blinded by the perceived romanticism.

"Honestly, the only thing that could be more sad is someone going on that cruise hoping to FIND love." he said with a chuckle.

Meanwhile a certain blonde and raven haired sneezed...through the multiverse.

* * *

Several hours later, Kensuke found himself in the shopping district. He heard the raffle was going on again and he was always up for a nice chance to win a prize. Unsurprisingly it was crowded as heck, cause the gold prizes are always pretty desirable. What WAS surprising, was seeing Usagi run like the hounds were on her heel towards the raffle.

That got him rather curious about what could interest her so much about this raffle, making him turn to the prize list, reading it over… and deadpanned when he saw the first prize… a pair of tickets for that Romantic Cruise thing he saw this morning. "Well...I have no idea what to say," he sighed, taking a closer look at the poster...before he noticed something strange. The number of tickets for the maximum number of passengers: 666. The number sent out warning bells to him, as while whether that actually WAS the number of the devil was debatable, it DID have significance, especially in that of black magic. This...might need looking into.

With that in mind, he turned to the raffle again, figuring he might try his luck...only to find that someone had already won the gold prize. Namely Rei. How she did all that and he never noticed...he had no idea.

* * *

"Here you go." Rei said as he held out the tickets to Usagi, who snatched them up with a grin.

"Thanks so much Rei!" Usagi said happily.

"It's fine, I don't really need to go on that thing anyway." Rei shot back with a shrug.

"Why's that? Would you like to find a boyfriend on some romantic cruise?" Usagi asked.

"Not really? I mean, I can see why it would be nice, but I'm not really interested in a relationship. I mean… look, this is… hard to explain, and I don't want to say it where anyone could just hear me." Rei said with a sigh.

"So… some very bad personal reasons then." Usagi summed up simply.

"Essentially yeah." Rei sighed, looking down in annoyance as she sat on the edge of a fountain in a park.

Usagi frowned a bit, before sitting next to Rei and putting a hand on her shoulder "Whatever it is, me and Ami will be there to listen when you want to talk."

Rei smiled a bit at the words, nodding "Thanks." she said, before perking up a bit "So! Got anyone in mind you plan to invite to that cruise ship? You know, besides Tuxedo Kamen?" Rei asked her, teasing her slightly.

Usagi blushed "Well… there is one person…"

"Ok… and that would be who?" Rei was honestly curious as she asked that.

Usagi looked around everywhere, before blushing more as she muttered out "Kensuke…"

Rei blinked once, twice, before raising an eyebrow "Huh… I… guess I can see why you like him. He's a nice guy, he's certainly smart if he's in university, and he IS rather good looking, even though he's not my type even I can admit that… and I suppose he has been there for you a lot since you started being Sailor Moon."

"Yeah...he's been there for me since well...literally the first day," Usagi nodded. "So...I'd like to ask him if he'd…"

Rei put a hand on her shoulder. "If that's how you feel, then go for it. Whether he returns the feelings or not, it's better that you tried than you did nothing."

Usagi smiled. "Thanks, Rei. I'm honestly afraid if he says no, but you're right. Its better I tried than I did nothing."

* * *

Kensuke was frowning a lot now. He'd went looking into the cruise and other than the recent commercials and promotions...nothing. Sure they said it was their maiden voyage, but still...he'd hoped to find something to alleviate his suspicions. Sighing, he closed up the cabinet he was working on. He'd better get focused, or he might get an accident. However…

"Kensuke?" Usagi said, catching his attention.

"Huh? Oh, Usagi. Sorry, didn't see you there. Was working on this cabinet," he apologized. "What'll it be today?"

"About that...can we...talk a bit? It won't take long," she said.

"Uh...okay? Just give me a minute," Kensuke nodded, before finishing closing up the cabinet, then following her to the alley right next to the arcade. "What did you want to talk about?"

"Um… well… I was wondering…" Usagi had trouble saying what she wanted, fidgeting in place, before eventually just pulling the tickets out of her school bag and presenting them to Kensuke "Please go on the cruise with me tomorrow!"

Kensuke blinked at her as she bowed in front of him, holding the tickets out. He… wasn't really sure how to react to this. On one hand, it was sweet of her to ask him, but on the other… he didn't see her in the way she obviously saw him.

Yet… he was still suspicious of that cruise ship… but he'd feel bad if he gave Usagi false hope. Ultimately, he had to give her an answer. She'd placed her feelings on the table, so how did HE feel about her. He knew he cared about her but…did he care about her in the way she hoped. Thinking back on the time spent so far...he eventually realized the answer to her question.

"Usagi...I'm...very flattered that you'd ask me out," he said with a small smile. "But...I can't accept this."

Usagi looked at him, and he almost cracked when he saw the look she had. That was why he knew he had to set the record straight. "Don't think for even a second that this means I don't care about you. I do care. But...I care about you as if you were the little sister I never had. I'm sorry, Usagi," he said with a sigh.

Usagi...wasn't fully sure how to feel. Sad was a given, as she felt some of the hopes she had fall apart...but at the same time she didn't exactly feel...devastated. It was...comforting to know he DID care for her...just...not in the way she had hoped. In the end, she managed to keep enough of her wits to respond. "I...see…" she said softly. "I'm...sad it wasn't the way I hoped, but...thanks for being honest with me," she said, before turning and walking away. Kensuke moved to reach for her on instinct but stopped himself. Right now...she needed time to think and be alone.

* * *

"Here, I'm returning these," Usagi said as she gave the tickets back to Rei. Currently they were in the Hikawa Shrine, Usagi having asked Luna to call everyone to meet up after she'd calmed down thanks to some time to cool down, support from her mom and brother, and a good night's sleep...and a chance to bawl her eyes out so she could get the emotions off her chest. As a result, she was thinking much more clearly now.

Rei looked at the tickets and frowned. "I'm guessing things didn't really work out. I'm sorry," Rei said sympathetically as she took the tickets back.

Usagi sighed. "It's...alright. It wasn't so bad, even if I guess I'll only ever be his little sister…" then she quickly shook her head. "Nope. He was polite about it, and at least it happened now then later, so...it'll be alright."

"I hope this won't affect how you work with him." Luna said with a frown.

"I'll be fine, I'm still feeling a bit disappointed sure, but I'll get over it after a bit of time, and he's still a good friend." Usagi reassured her.

"Well, that's good to hear then." Luna smiled at that "He and Ami should be here soon, he said he'd pick her up on his way."

It was only a minute after she said that, that they heard a pair of footsteps, and soon enough, Kensuke and Ami stepped into the room.

"Hey… so… everything ok?" he asked, looking at Usagi.

He honestly felt just a tiny bit awkward right now.

She smiled at him "I'm good, I've mostly gotten over it. I was just returning the tickets to Rei so we can decide who gets them instead."

He sighed in relief at hearing that, before he sat down "Good to hear, I'd feel like a jerk if you were still down in the dumps."

"Yeah, well… at least now I have a super cool big brother." she said with a shrug, chuckling a bit.

"Well, I'm glad you're both still friends." Ami said in relief, Kensuke having explained the situation a bit to her on their way here.

"Same here," Kensuke nodded, before frowning. "Though...if you're looking into that cruise...I have my doubts," he said.

"Huh?" the others blinked.

"Haven't you seen the number of tickets they're distributing?" Kensuke pointed out. "But if you haven't, its 666."

Rei's eyebrows shot up at that "Wait… like the number of the beast in christianity?"

"Yeah, 666, aka, the number of the devil himself. Feels kind of odd for a cruise ship to have that number of max passengers." He said with a frown. "On top of that, I looked into the ship. Nothing whatsoever came up about it. It's like it doesn't exist."

"Hm...that IS very strange," Luna noted. "Do you think it may be another plot?"

"That's...I can't say for sure, but with how things have been I'd say it's very likely," Kensuke said.

"They REALLY don't have any boundaries do they?" Rei growled.

"I guess they don't, toying with the hearts of people in love like that. We gotta punish them!" Usagi said, slapping the table.

"Agreed, we just need a plan now." Luna said.

"Well… maybe we could put the tickets to good use?" Ami suggested.

"Good thinking, two of us could go in undercover as guests," Kensuke nodded.

"Though what about the other two?" Usagi frowned.

"Why not use the Disguise Pen? Maybe pretend to be something inconspicuous?" he suggested further.

"Hey, you're right. We know it works on more than just me," Usagi agreed.

"Okay, so we've got a way in. Now...who should be the ones to use the tickets?" Luna asked.

"Well, Kensuke is one of them obviously." Rei pointed out.

"I guess I AM the only guy here." he said with a sweatdrop."So who's gonna be the 'date'?"

An awkward silence descended...before Ami, Rei, and Luna...probably instinctively...looked at Usagi. "...well...this...is going to be very awkward…" Usagi groaned.

"You sure one of you can't sub?" Kensuke asked with a groan as well.

"Well...that's a fair point," Rei admitted. "So...how do we decide who has to go?"

"I think...simple might be best," Ami sighed, before pulling out a 100 yen coin. "Heads or Tails?"

"Heads," Rei said, to which Ami flipped the coin. It landed on heads.

"Guess you're my date for the night Ami," Kensuke said with a light chuckle.

"And we're sneaking aboard, I already have the perfect disguise idea to." Usagi said to Rei with a grin.

"I want to know in advance." she said with narrowed eyes.

"Oh relax, it's just a reporter and her assistant who carries around a recorder." Usagi said placatingly, making Rei nod, being able to accept that role.

* * *

"Well...they sure managed to draw quite a bunch," Kensuke mused as currently he and Ami were on the cruise...which was full. Heck, it wouldn't be a stretch to say that there WERE 666 people including them on the ship right now. The both of them were dressed appropriately to blend in, Kensuke wearing a dress shirt and tie, while Ami just has a simple blue dress.

"It's really incredible how, assuming this IS a Dark Kingdom plot, that they keep managing to draw so many people," Ami couldn't help but say.

"They either use plots that hit a LOT of people at the same time, or they go for tricks to lure lots of people in. Left or right, they fill up fast...even if this has to be one of their more outrageous moves yet," Kensuke sighed.

"I just hope Usagi and Rei are doing alright," Ami frowned.

"They'll be fine," Kensuke reassured.

At the same time, Usagi and Rei, now dressed as reporters, the disguise pen had given both of them short hair, though Usagi's was shorter, and they wore casual clothing, Usagi having a small vest over a striped shirt and some simple green pants, while Rei had a short coat that was kept closed and a pair of jeans, and she also had sunglasses… for some reason (the disguise pen really had strange ideas at times), had managed to sneak into the ship's lower deck. Once inside, they opened the case they had with them, allowing Luna to get out of it. "Good, we're in," Luna breathed a sigh of relief. Part of the plan or not, that was still pretty uncomfortable.

"Question is...what do we look for?" Usagi frowned.

"Anything out of the ordinary I guess," Rei frowned as they scanned the room...and soon found the first glaring detail.

"Uh...Rei?" Usagi started.

"Yeah?" Rei asked.

"I may not be a machine expert but don't machines normally NEED a running engine to work?" she asked.

"Yes. Yes they do," Rei nodded.

"And yet this engine isn't working," Luna frowned, the three of them looking at each other in silent agreement. This was getting VERY fishy. With that in mind, they continued investigating, but didn't go far, as they turned a corner and were face to face with a man with dark hair and dressed in a captain's uniform.

"May I help you?" the captain asked sternly. "This is a restricted area."

The both of them stood ramrod straight, while Luna discreetly jumped back into the box.

"Uh… we… got lost from our crew! We're reporters you see! We wanted to run an exclusive story on this wonderful ship!" Rei said after a moment, giving a nervous smile.

"I… see…" the captain said slowly "Well… why don't I help you back out of here then?"

"Oh, that would be lovely, thank you." Usagi said, calming down slightly.

"It's my pleasure." the captain said as he started walking, before looking at them with a raised eyebrow "What is the name of your newspaper?"

"The… uh… Daily Bugle!" Usagi said quickly… and Rei felt like slapping her when her brain clicked on the connection.

Oh she may not be a fan, but even she knew about freaking SPIDERMAN!

"I see, that must be quite a renowned newspaper," the captain nodded, though he felt like he should know the name...but ultimately shrugged as there would probably be hundreds if not thousands of papers. Besides, publicity was always good.

And he didn't notice Rei staring at him with her jaw dropped, unable to believe that he was stupid enough to buy it.

Usagi likewise was surprised he actually bought it, but she wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth. "Y-yes it is. It's a REALLY well known paper that has a LOT of readers. Its so popular we could print complete lies and people would believe it," she said...only half thinking.

"I see. Well, I do hope you only have good things to say about our cruise. Now then…" the captain started, but was stopped when…

"Captain?" a new voice entered the scene. The group turned to see the source which was a woman with long hair, dressed in a crew outfit with her face obscured by her hat. "It's almost time for the special event," she said.

"Ah yes, my apologies. I was sidetracked," the captain nodded, before turning to them. "The exit to the main deck is that way. I am certain your crew will be on the deck," he said quickly before going to the woman, the two soon walking away.

Once they were out of sight, Usagi and Rei both breathed sighs of relief, before Rei shot the blonde an annoyed look "Marvel comics? Really?"

"I panicked ok? Besides, it worked didn't it? Does the Dark Kingdom actually seem like the kind of place where they read american comic books?" Usagi shot back.

Rei groaned "I hate that your logic actually makes sense."

"At any rate, we'd better get out of here. I don't think we can fool them a second time if they catch us again," Usagi said, earning a nod from Rei to which they both left the engine room.

Meanwhile, the various couples were ushered in to a reception hall of sorts complete with a stage ready.

"Looks like they're ready to steal energy." Kensuke muttered.

"Should we sneak off and find the others?" Ami wondered.

"...might be our best move. We can't risk them finding out who we are after all," Kensuke mused.

Nodding to each other, they managed to get out of the room unnoticed. Just in time too, as when they got out, they quickly looked to the windows, the doors closing shut, and the captain and assistant captain entered the stage. The 'assistant captain' said something...before revealing herself as a Youma and the lights started to dance in the room, and the energy was starting to be harvested.

"Welp, let's hurry up and stop that." Kensuke said in worry, before they moved away, rounding a corner… and nearly running into Usagi and Rei.

"Oh, good, we found you." Rei sighed in relief.

"No time to talk, their harvesting energy as we speak." Ami said seriously.

"Right, in that case, time to get to work." Usagi said with a nod as everyone took out their transformation items "Moon Prism Power, Make Up!"

"Mars Power, Make Up!"

"Mercury Power, Make Up!"

"Henshin!" " **Turn Up!"**

* * *

"The energy is filling up quite nicely," Thetis said.

"Yes it is," Jadeite agreed, though a frown was present on his face.

"Is something wrong?" Thetis asked.

"...I feel like some of the guests are missing," Jadeite frowned. "But I'm sure it's just nothing."

Apparently the universe was feeling like shitting on him as right when he said that, the doors to the room were busted down, followed by a familiar golden disk flying and shattering the Disco Ball, halting the energy absorption completely.

"What?!" both of them gasped in surprise.

"You know, you people aren't exactly subtle, makes finding these plots of yours REALLY easy." Blade stepped into the room, a hand on his sheathed sword.

"Not that we're complaining obviously. Please, keep being the obvious idiots to make our job easy." Moon added as she caught her returning tiara.

"Damn you all," Jadeite glared, before Thetis held a hand in front of him.

"Lord Jadeite, allow me to deal with the Sailor Scouts," Thetis said.

"Very well, I'll leave it to you," Jadeite nodded, before Thetis raised her arms, and suddenly the various crew members lumbered into the room...and promptly revealed themselves as slime-like creatures, which suddenly twisted together and before the surprised heroes could react, she darted out of the room, and the liquid creatures grabbed the surprised Scouts, pulling them out, the door soon closing behind her.

"Girls!" Blade said in alarm, and would have ran after them...if not for the hand that had suddenly burst out of the ground, grabbing his foot and nearly causing him to trip over, right when he felt his pendant heat up. "This is…!" he gasped, quickly using his sword to make the hand let go, to which an angry hiss was heard, and the owner of the hand burst out of the ground. Its body seemed to be covered from head to toe in a carapace, the left half more silver in color while the right half seemed more closer to stone in color, wearing a shield on its right arm that was shaped like a trilobite, while the left arm held two long blades.

"Trilobite Undead… well, at least now I know last time wasn't just some fluke." Blade said as he drew his sword.

"Several of these beasts are already under our control. Perhaps you defeated one, but this time you will be the one defeated!" Jadeite declared as the Trilobite ran forward, lashing out with its blades, forcing Blade to roll out of the way, and when he tried to counter, his attack was blocked by the shield.

"Tch. Shouldn't be surprised. This thing IS one of the Undead with the best defense," Blade snarled. "Hope the girls are having an easier time than I am…"

* * *

At the same time, the Scouts were having a not so easy time, having to dodge the water that was moving to strike them.

"This one is beyond the others we've fought so far!" Mars said as they dodged.

"And she's got a BIG home field advantage!" Moon added as they were forced to evade another stream of water, Thetis manipulating the sea water around the ship. And boy was she doing a good job of it. The water swirled, reshaped, struck and even acted as defense when necessary.

"We're not going to be able to do anything if she keeps having the advantage," Mercury frowned. "For now... Shabon Spray!" she called out, creating the veil of fog which served to keep them hidden for now. This would buy them some time at least…

"I hope Blade's having a better time than we are…" Mars growled.

* * *

Blade was pushed back from a strong strike by the Undead. Honestly, the movements weren't too special and the strikes the Undead were giving weren't exactly what he'd call masterful. No, the main reason he was having an issue in the first place was because of that damn shield and armor.

"Okay, this isn't getting me anywhere," Blade growled. He had to change tactics. Okay, first of all, that armor had to go. All that metal...wait a sec….

"This could work," Blade smirked, before drawing one of his cards. " **Thunder!"**

"Do whatever you want, it's useless against this one!" Jadeite laughed, feeling pretty confident this time...until Blade shot a blast of electricity, which the Undead blocked...and was promptly spasming when the electricity was conducted through its body, causing it to...well...huh...who knew an Undead could dance so well.

"And just to make sure…" Blade started, pulling out another card. " **Slash!"** With that he surged forward, and struck, cutting a large gash in the still dazed Undead's armor, and for good measure, he followed up with a stab through the gut.

The Undead let out a choked gasp as green blood spurted all over, its belt cracking open as Blade delivered a swift kick, sending it tumbling back. Acting quickly, he unfolded his cards, and pulled out one of the cards that was glowing blue, the 7 of Spades, and tossed it at the Undead, sealing it. "Metal Trilobite, sealed," Blade confirmed when the card flew back to him, before he turned to Jadeite. "Thanks for just standing there and being a cheerleader," he smirked.

Jadeite's face went red from anger, before he held up a hand, an ominous orb of black energy charging in it, and he then threw it at Blade, who dove out of it's path "You damnable miscreant… I'll have my revenge for this, I swear." Jadeite growled out, readying another attack...but before he could actually launch it, he vanished.

"...okay, that's new," Blade blinked.

* * *

Earlier…

"Where are you?!" Thetis growled.

"Right here," Mercury's voice was heard, to which she lashed out in the direction, but in the fog, she didn't see another figure leap behind from the side.

"Fire Soul!" Mars called out, firing several blasts in quick succession, hitting both Thetis AND the jets of water she was controlling, creating more steam while Thetis had was busy trying to douse the flames.

"Damn you!" she roared as the other jet of water was fired in Mars's direction, but by then she'd rolled back into the fog.

"Stop running you cowards!" Thetis was pretty much DONE with this rubbish by now.

"Moon Tiara...Action!" Moon called out.

"There!" Thetis grinned triumphantly as she fired more water in that direct, but...instead it was met with a blast of flames. "What?!" she gasped, surprised to see Mars when the fog parted a bit, a smirk on her face.

"You fell for it," Mars said, before Moon emerged...off to the side, and threw her tiara. Thetis's eyes widened as she realized they'd pinned her down and now she could do nothing as the attack hit, her pained gasp rang out before she turned into a mass of water and fell apart, the cruise ship soon after changed into an old completely un-seaworthy ship.

"Yeesh, so THIS is what the ship really looked like?" came Blade's voice a couple of minutes later as he exited the reception hall. "Looks like you three took care of this just fine. Good job."

"Thanks," Moon smiled.

"Though...what happened in there? I suddenly felt another evil aura, and then suddenly two vanished," Mars frowned.

"Undead. Seems the Dark Kingdom has a few under their control," Blade said seriously, but quickly drew the Metal Trilobite card. "Though thankfully nobody taught Jadeite to work WITH the monsters he uses," he smirked. "After that he kinda just vanished suddenly. No idea why, but hey, not looking a gift horse in the mouth," Blade shrugged.

"If he suddenly vanished, it's possible he was summoned back to the Dark Kingdom forcefully." Luna said in thought as she came up to them.

"Perhaps they felt he was in over his head?" Mercury mused.

"That… or their disappointed with all his failures." Moon said with a chuckle. One good thing about reading manga so much, she'd seen THIS kind of situation plenty, namely 'you have failed me'.

"Not gonna lie, I would pay to see that." Mars added with a smirk.

"Well, as amusing as imagining him getting what's coming to him is, we'd better transform back before the coast guard comes, and/or the people wake up," Blade said.

"Good point," the others nodded to which they all turned back, and were soon waiting for the coast guard to come and rescue the civilians...and them too.

* * *

Jadeite stumbled for a moment as he suddenly reappeared in darkness, looking around for a moment, before the attack faded from his hand "Queen Beryl… I-"

"Enough Jadeite." a voice cut in, as a woman with long, dark red hair appeared before him, wearing a long black dress and a black crown around her forehead "I grow tired of your failures, not only do you keep failing to defeat the scouts and the rider, but you lose us many valuable assets, including one of my personal Youma this time. You've even managed to lose two of the immortal beasts Kujaku has managed to take control of!"

"But Queen Beryl, this time it was Thetis's idea!" Jadeite protested. "Kujaku even volunteered to lend the beast for this plan!"

"Is that so?" Beryl frowned, glancing towards Kujaku who was standing to the side.

"Eh, its true. Thetis had a nice idea, I figured 'why not'," Kujaku shrugged. It really wouldn't make a difference in his eyes. No matter what, Jadeite was on thin ice anyway.

Beryl frowned, but sighed. "Very well, I will let this slide for now," she started, almost getting a sigh of relief from Jadeite until… "However, your next plan will be your final chance. If you fail me one last time, you shall be consigned to an eternal slumber!"

Jadeite's face became grim, as he bowed before Beryl "I understand Queen Beryl…"

* * *

 **And there!**

 **So, a lot of things here, first, yeah, Kensuke is keeping Mamoru's secret, for now at least.**

 **Also, Rei and Usagi AREN'T constantly at each other's throats in this story.**

 **She also isn't boy crazy as you can all see, since she has no need for the tickets.**

 **If you know her manga backstory, you might understand why we're doing that.**

 **Also, Usagi's crush on Kensuke, we handled that pretty quickly, mostly for the obvious reason that, hey, Mamoru isn't a dick anymore, so let's try and make their relationship seem more natural.**

 **Yes, this is a gripe on how Usagi and Mamoru just suddenly loved each other when their memories as Serenity and Endymion came back.**

 **So we're working on makign this better.**

 **Anyway, that's pretty much it, next time, we're workingon Digital Story.**

 **See you then!**


	9. Card 9

**Hey everyone and welcome back to Trump of the Moon!**

 **Now then, this chapter... well, I'm sure you know what happens in it, so I'll just leave you all to it.**

* * *

"Think carefully before your next move, or it will quite literally be your last," Kujaku said in mild amusement as he leaned against a hallway as Jadeite passed by.

"I don't need you telling me that," Jadeite snapped. "If you're so worried, why don't you help?"

Kujaku seemed like he wanted to snort at that...before pausing. "Actually...I may just join in."

Jadeite blinked in surprise at that.

"Why so surprised? It's been a while since I've stretched my legs, and what better a target than a member of that clan?" Kujaku smirked, as for a moment, the image of something inhuman appeared over him, but quickly returned to his normal appearance.

* * *

"It's been quiet this week," Kensuke frowned. "Too quiet honestly," he said into the communicator.

"The worst part of that, I can't disagree," came Rei's voice.

"We haven't heard anything about the Dark Kingdom lately, and clearly Jadeite had been forced to retreat last time…" Ami mused.

"You think he's already on the 'you have failed me' territory?" Usagi asked.

"With how many times we've stopped him, I wouldn't be surprised," Luna nodded slightly.

"So, either our next enemy is his final attempt, or he's already been offed and we'll meet our next opponent." Kensuke mused "I honestly don't know which is better."

"Personally, I'd prefer the second one, especially if that means Naru stops being an accident victim." Usagi said in annoyance.

"Can't deny that. From the sound of things, your friend has really strange luck with getting into these messes." Rei added with a sigh.

"But, at least we don't slack off while waiting for new schemes." Ami said.

Kensuke chuckled "Yeah, you girls are taking to training pretty well. I'm glad to see you're all serious about it."

"Well, we kind of have to be at this point." Rei said with a huff.

"Yeah, plus working out is really good at tiring you out and making you want to sleep instead of staying up late." Usagi admitted with a sheepish laugh.

"Something I hear a certain someone was guilty off before we came along." Luna said in amusement.

"You'd be surprised how having to live a double life makes me get as much sleep as I can," Usagi said flatly. "Still...whatever the Dark Kingdom plan next, I hope we can find it quickly before they hurt more people…"

Then, out of nowhere, they all heard a laugh coming from the skies, peering out in alarm to see something appearing in the night sky, which gathered into…

"Jadeite!" they all gasped in shock as the man was actually bold enough to appear like this.

"To those whom it may concern, I am Jadeite. Listen well, Sailor Scouts, Kamen Rider! Be at Haneda Airport at 1AM tomorrow. We shall battle at runway F. However, know that if you don't…" the apparition of Jadeite grinned before spitting a fireball down on the city, covering it in flames, though they quickly realised it was just an illusion when they gave off no heat, Jadeite proving them right as he snapped his fingers and the flames disappeared "That was just a preview of what I'll do to this city should you decide not to come." the apparition said with a smirk, before fading away.

"Bastard, he's gotten bold." Kensuke frowned.

"Well...if there were any doubts this is his last chance, they're gone now…" Usagi chuckled weakly.

"Yeah, the bad guy who usually always runs away challenging us directly...definitely he's on his last chance," Rei nodded grimly.

"Its worse. The city's going into an uproar," Ami frowned, as true enough, several people had started to panic and chaos was spreading through the streets.

"Well, at least he was 'nice' enough to give us a full day," Kensuke frowned.

"War meeting at the shrine?" Rei deadpanned.

"War meeting at the shrine," everyone nodded.

Weirdly, getting there was actually easier with the city in a panic, as Usagi was able to sneak out without issue, the others… well, they didn't have to worry too much.

* * *

"Okay, so here's the deal," Kensuke said, before pinning a...crudely drawn picture of Jadeite...which for some reason had an obvious villain moustache on it to the board. "Jadeite is no doubt on thin ice, and thus is in a do or die situation, with him no doubt being VERY intent on making US do the dying," he frowned. "He called us to the airport, to a SPECIFIC runway while giving us 24 hours."

Usagi raised her arm at that. "Yes?"

"This is so obviously a trap that its just painful," Usagi said dryly, everyone nodding in agreement.

"My thoughts exactly," Kensuke nodded. "With that in mind, we CAN'T ignore it on the off chance he was bluffing, so like it or not we'll have to spring it. Now...we need a plan."

"First we need to consider what MIGHT be waiting for us at the airport," Rei frowned.

"Perhaps a squadron of Youma? Or some more Undead if they have anymore under their control?" Ami suggested.

"I certainly hope not," Luna shuddered a bit. "However, the Dark Kingdom has been trying to maintain some subtlety lately, so hopefully that means they won't deploy a large number of Youma."

"Undead would be a possibility, but with how rarely they use them, I think its a safe bet that they didn't have many to begin with, so that we'll have to wait and see," Kensuke frowned.

"Think he might do something to the airport itself?" Usagi wondered.

"That's...a possibility," Ami frowned. "If he is taking the time to take control of the airport, it wouldn't be outside of the possibility that he has something planned with the airport itself…"

"And considering the usual pattern so far, he might have something in store just in case Tuxedo Kamen shows up to give us a hand." Rei figured.

"In that case… we should definitely go in expecting him to have backup." Luna said with a frown.

"So basically we have no choice but to get in there fully suited, and be ready for just about anything, with the top of the list being Jadeite himself," Kensuke nodded.

* * *

"Did you see that guy in the sky last night?" one of the students asked another.

"Yeah, I honestly nearly wet myself when the city looked like it went up in flames," another nodded.

"No way that's real. Its probably for some movie."

"Wanna bet? Let's go to the airport and see if its real or not," another challenged.

"...what is wrong with some people?" Naru deadpanned. "Haven't the monster attacks happening taught them ANYTHING?"

"You'd be surprised how dumb people can be, and yes, I'm well aware how ironic that is coming from me," Umino nodded dryly. Seriously, even he wasn't crazy enough to go to a sight of a supposed battle after all the crazy stuff happening in the city lately.

"I'm surprised Ms. Haruna isn't doing something to stop them," Usagi mused.

"Oh I am," Ms. Haruna said simply, having been writing something down. "I'm just making a note of who's parents to call after school."

Usagi couldn't help but snort at that "Oh boy, I wish I could see all their faces when they get locked in their rooms." she couldn't help but snicker. Inwardly though she was glad to know nobody from her class would be nearby. That'd be just asking for a disaster to happen.

"Still though, it's a good thing the police are finally taking this seriously, those monsters have just been using the city as their playground, so it's time they got treated like the terrorists they are." Naru said with a firm nod.

* * *

Later, once school was finished…

"Huh, wonder how those kids will react to the hard no from their parents?" Kensuke chuckled after Usagi told him what happened at school.

"They'll probably be disappointed with some anger thrown in." Motoki added as he cleaned the counter.

"That or try to sneak out and get caught." Mamoru snickered as he sat on one of the stools, having arrived shortly after Usagi started telling her story.

"Honestly though, I hope they don't," Usagi sighed. "Seriously, hoax or not, there's gonna be trouble be it the police or a superhero/supervillain showdown. That's literally asking to be caught in the crossfire…"

"You'd be surprised how dumb some people can be," Kensuke sighed. "At any rate, I think we can all agree keeping our distance from the airport is a good idea tonight."

"Don't have to tell us twice," Motoki laughed.

* * *

"Feels a bit hypocritical after making sure everyone doesn't go out...we're sneaking out ourselves…" Usagi sighed.

"Can't be helped. We're the ones that message was calling to," Luna said. Currently the group were on their way to the airport, having snuck out of their homes (or just walked out in some cases) and had reached the train station.

"We'll need to use the Haneda Line monorail. That's the fastest way to the airport," Ami said as they went up the stairs and found a monorail in the station...apparently not working.

"Oh no, the train isn't working," Usagi frowned...right before it came on and opened its doors. "...or it is…" she blinked.

"Looks like we're getting an open invitation. Fine then, let's not disappoint," Rei smirked a bit.

"But first, let's suit up," Kensuke said, pulling out the Blay Buckle.

"Good idea," the others nodded, pulling out their own transformation items.

"Moon Prism Power, Make up!"

"Mercury Power, Make up!"

"Mars Power, Make up!"

"Henshin!" " **Turn Up!"**

* * *

"Foolish humans, they really don't know when to stop getting in the way." Jadeite said as he walked among the unconscious police officers.

"Maybe we should kill these ones to send a message." Kujaku said with a smirk.

"Perhaps, but for now we wait for our prey," Jadeite smirked. True enough, it wasn't long before the monorail arrived and the group entered the airport grounds.

"I do believe we should make this amusing at the very least." Kujaku suggested, holding up a piece of clay.

Jadeite smirked, grabbing the piece "I couldn't agree more." he said, before putting his power into it and throwing it, the large chunk breaking into smaller pieces which grew into the shape of police officers.

* * *

"Here we are, and it's quiet as the grave…" Blade frowned.

"Please don't say grave," Moon groaned, remembering how there were supposed to be police officers stationed here.

"Let's...try not to think about that…" Mars frowned.

"I see movement inside, but something is strange," Mercury frowned. The group cautiously entered...and found a row of police officers waiting.

"...okay...this is strange," Luna sweat dropped.

Blade looked at the police officers closely as they were looking from around a corner "They almost seem to be acting… lifeless. Either their being brainwashed, or those are fakes."

"Let's avoid doing any serious damage till we confirm which it is," the cat said flatly. Of course, the issue became more pressing when the officers suddenly started attacking them.

"Of course this happens," Blade groaned, blocking an attack from one of the officers. "Mercury, we'll hold them off. Analyze them so we can determine which it is!"

"Understood," Mercury nodded, activating her visor and analyzing with her computer.

The group held off the officers for a good 2 minutes before the analysis was done. "I've got it! They're all clay dolls that are animated with magic! Don't hold back!"

"Then that makes life very easy," Mars smirked, kicking the officer she was fighting back into a pile, something the others did as well. "Fire Soul!" she called out, burning the gathered clay dolls to cinders. "Next," she chuckled.

The group soon made their way to runway F, getting out into the airfield knowing that no doubt Jadeite wouldn't have been waiting indoors.

"Okay, we're here, so where's Jadeite?" Moon asked with a frown. As if to answer, a spotlight suddenly came on, revealing Jadeite standing on a nearby tower.

"So you've come at last. I almost thought you'd all run away by now," he said with a smirk.

"...extra kicks to the face for you," was the deadpan response the group had at that.

"Funny, we were thinking the same thing." a voice new to them said as Kujaku appeared on top of one of the planes, and Blade felt his necklace heat up beneath his armor, and it was a stronger reaction than anything he'd faced so far. In fact the only type of energy that should give...

"You… you're a Royal!" Blade gasped in shock, not expecting to encounter one so soon.

"A Royal?!" the scouts gasped. They knew they'd run into one eventually, but this...was sooner than expected.

"Okay...change of plans girls," Blade said with a low voice. "I'll draw the other guy away, you three focus on Jadeite."

"But we can't just…!" Moon started to protest but Blade cut her off.

"We've only fought the numbered suits, and even then we never even fought a Category 10, and the gap between those and a Jack alone is a large one," Blade said, his voice making it clear he wasn't going to take no for an answer.

"Don't die on us," Mars said simply after a moment.

"Wasn't planning to," Blade smirked under his helmet, before looking at Kujaku...and gesturing to the side with his head.

Kujaku grinned. "I'll leave the little girls to you. The warrior is mine," he said simply before walking in the direction Blade was gesturing, the two of them soon going to another spot in the runway.

"I hope he'll be ok." Mercury said with a frown.

"Well… he's strong, so I know that he'll fight hard." Moon reassured, though it felt like it was more for herself.

Blade was soon in an empty part of the runway, Kujaku floating down and landing before him. "I've been looking forward to this," he said with a smirk.

"You might just regret those words," Blade frowned.

"Well then… let's see," Kujaku laughed before his form started to shift, revealing his true Undead form. His body was mainly black and blue in color, his shoulder armor looking similar to the tail feathers of a peacock, his face having a vague bird shape to it, while his left hand looked rather out of place, sporting three long fingers with equally long claws, while his right hand was normal, and was holding a bladed fan.

"Peacock Undead, the Jack of Diamonds." Blade recognised "Well, at least you aren't a King."

"Perhaps, but I'm still more than a match for you," Kujaku, or rather the Peacock Undead said with a smirk, unfolding his fan. "Now then...let's see what you're made of!"

And the fight was on as Kujaku made the first move, surging forward with a strike, forcing Blade to block and counter, but Kujaku easily evaded back, floating in the air as he did with an amused chuckle. "Not even a flinch. I suppose that's the LEAST I could expect a member of HIS Clan," Kujaku chuckled.

"Expect a lot more," Blade frowned before charging forward, and jumping at Kujaku who blocked with his weapon, pushing Blade back, to which Blade had to quickly roll out of the way as several fireballs came his way.

"Come now, you're gonna need to do a LOT better than that!" Kujaku laughed as he fired a small barrage of feather shaped projectiles, Blade dodging and blocking most of them, but several went through, dealing damage, though he grit through the pain.

"How's this for better?!" Blade growled, scanning a card. " **Screw!"**

Kujaku took the attack head on, grunting as he was pushed back, before taking several sword strikes, pushing him back further. "Yes…! Yes, THIS is the feeling I've almost forgotten!" he laughed. "That's right! Dispense with the trappings of strategy and restraint! Fight me with everything you've got!" he roared, surging forward and landing several savage blows on Blade's armor, sending him tumbling back. Blade quickly got to his feet, but Kujaku was hot on the pursuit, weapon raised...before a familiar voice cut in.

"Tuxedo La Smoking Bomber!" Kujaku heard the voice and managed to block the attack, but it did throw him off course, allowing Blade to evade and regroup.

"A bit close there, but glad you could make it," Blade chuckled lightly as Tuxedo Kamen landed next to him.

"I wasn't about to let one of my friends just bite the dust now." Tuxedo Kamen said with a smirk "So, I'm assuming this is one of the stronger varieties of your enemies?"

"Right, I never told you. He's an Undead, category Jack, so he's extremely powerful." Blade warned.

"Then we'd best not let our guards down," Tuxedo Kamen said grimly as he pulled out his cane and wielded it like a sword/baton.

"Two against one? Fine by me," Kujaku smirked as the three charged forward, meeting each other in combat again.

* * *

While all that was happening, Jadeite had begun his assault on the girls too...of course by assault, we mean he'd taken control of several of the planes on the runway, and using telekinesis, pushed them in an effort to run the Scouts over.

"Oh come on! At least fight us face to face!" Moon complained as they ran. Fighting an opponent who they could see was way more preferable than having to deal with these things, not to mention they couldn't just destroy them considering how much one of they were worth.

"And you call yourself a General! You're nothing but a coward!" Mars added with a glare.

"I don't think he cares!" Mercury said, sounding quite annoyed too. "We're not going anywhere if we just keep running!"

"We gotta lose these things first if we want to start a counter attack!" Moon shouted.

"Something we can't do as long as he can see us!" Luna added as she ran alongside them.

"I can fix that!" Mercury nodded. "Shabon Spray!"

The area was soon covered in fog as they continued running, though while under the cover of the fog, the girls split up, Mercury making sure to maintain it while Mars hid in it, Moon keeping attention on herself and making the plane follow her "I don't like this plan!"

"Where did the others go?" Jadeite wondered as he set foot on the ground and trying to peer through the fog.

Thanks to the fog though, he never noticed Mars behind him as she uttered an incantation lowly while holding one of her tags, which she quietly stuck to his back before moving away from him.

Just as she did, the planes suddenly turned, and started moving towards Jadeite.

"Wait, what's going on?!" Jadeite gasped, before quickly running as the planes weren't responding to him at all when he tried to get them to stop.

"You shouldn't underestimate girls Jadeite!" Moon's voice called from within the fog.

"We're more resourceful than you give us credit for." Mercury added.

"You! You're the reason my thought are in such disarray!" Jadeite realised as he tried to think clearly.

"Bingo, now game over," Mars said. "Let's do this, Sailor Moon!"

"Right!" Moon nodded. "Moon Tiara Action!"

"Fire Soul!"

The two attacks mixed like they did in Dreamland, creating the flaming disc. Jadeite growled and put up a barrier, aiming to block the spinning disc of fire.

"Not going to let you! Shabon Spray!" Mercury added, using the blast of mist to propel the attack at a faster rate, increasing its speed and with it, striking power. The disc made contact with the barrier, and soon fought for dominance as Mercury and Mars kept up the pressure, Moon bracing them from behind, while at the same time the area was now getting covered in fog. Eventually their attack won out, as the barrier broke, and Jadeite was hit square in the chest, sending him tumbling back.

"Lucky shot!" he growled, moving to get back up...until he noticed something coming his way and realized he was right in the way of one of the incoming plane's wheels. A shout of fear, horror, and despair was the last thing the Scouts heard from Jadeite, as they'd already turned tail and ran. The last thing they heard was a sickening 'squish' and 'crunch'.

* * *

"Excellent! I'll savor this victory indeed!" Kujaku laughed as he fended off the attacks from both Blade and Tuxedo Kamen, the two men having managed to fight him to a relatively equal level. "But its not NEARLY enough!" he roared, before spinning around, while generating a ring of fireballs, catching both of them by surprise and sending them tumbling back, both quickly getting to their feet, ready to fend off the next attack.

If Kujaku could, he'd be grinning as he lunged forward, ready to strike them down...when he felt a certain someone's energy vanish from the area, while the fog slowly dissipated, revealing the Sailor Scouts...looking a little bit shaky...and a stationary plane...with a red smear on its wheel. He groaned in annoyance, breaking away from his assault, and reverting to his human form as he landed on the building. "Really? All that talk and THAT'S how he meets his end?" Kujaku said in a mix of annoyance and disgust. "Moron couldn't have lasted a few more seconds could he? Fine fine, guess this is as far as we go tonight," he sighed. "I'll come to play again another time. For now, I have to report to the boss lady." With that he soon vanished into a portal, as life soon returned to the airport judging by the lights coming back on as the people woke from the slumber Jadeite put them in.

"Okay, looks like we're done here. I say we get out of here before the cops see us...and we should stop by somewhere with comfort food before we get back…" Blade said, adding the last part when he noticed the girls looking a little shaken, no doubt from the 'incident' that caused that 'smear' on the runway.

"I do believe that's a sound idea." Tuxedo Kamen said "I had not expected this to happen tonight, but you girls should know that in the end, it was the right thing to do."

"Thanks… I just hope we don't have to do this too often." Moon said, for once forgetting her crush on Tuxedo Kamen as she was a bit too shaken up by the fact someone was dead because of them.

* * *

"So Jadeite is dead?" Queen Beryl mused, Kujaku kneeling before her.

"That's what it seems judging by the red smear I saw," Kujaku shrugged. "In the end I guess he was all bark no bite."

"He was a pawn who'd outlived his usefulness anyway," Queen Beryl said dismissively. "His passing simply means we shall select our next strategic commander. Don't disappoint me...Nephrite," she said, looking to the shadows where the next of the Shittenou stepped forward.

"Jadeite was a fool," the new Shittenou member, Nephrite spoke as the light hit him, revealing him to be wearing the same outfit as Jadeite, though his hair was long and brown, his skin a bit darker as well. "Leave everything to me. I will do what he could not. Why, I'll even manage to gather more energy from a single person then he could from a group."

"Make sure you live up to those words then," Queen Beryl nodded, before turning to Kujaku.

"I know, I know, I'll give support where its needed. But do try to go easy on using the Undead I've managed to control. We don't have THAT many under my control," Kujaku chuckled.

"Do make sure you aren't overconfident though." another voice said, Nephrite turning to look at an effeminate man with dirty blond hair in a ponytail "We wouldn't want you to end up like poor old Jadeite."

"I don't need your words Zoisite, after all, each human has a point in their life when their energy levels peak, I'll read the stars to tell me which human to focus on." Nephrite said, walking past Zoisite.

"You should probably wait before striking, the Scouts and Rider would be down on you in a heartbeat." Zoisite said half-heartedly.

Nephrite paused for a moment, looking back at Zoisite for a second "Then it seems we agree on that much."

* * *

A few weeks had passed since the last incident, and the warmer seasons were finally arriving.

The sound of cheers were heard as people were watching a tennis match. "Big Sis Rui, you're the best!" Naru cheered as the girl with long brown hair scored a point.

"Huh? I didn't know you were close to Rui Saionji," Usagi commented next to her.

"Her mom's a long time customer at our shop, so the two of us have known each other for years," Naru smiled. "She's only a year older than me but she's like my big sister. I really look up to her."

"So that's why," Usagi chuckled. "I know how that feels."

"Difference is Kensuke is a few years older than us." Naru said with a chuckle.

"He's still pretty much acting like a big brother now that I've gotten over my crush." Usagi said with a shrug.

Any further conversation was put on hold as a red sports car suddenly came to a halt nearby and a rather handsome man with long brown hair stepped out, looking at the match rather intensely.

"Wow! He's hot!" Naru gasped, hearts in her eyes.

"He is quite handsome," Usagi agreed. Of course, any further musing was cut short when the man suddenly grabbed the top of the chain-link fence and promptly pulled himself up and got over the fence, landing in the tennis court, before proceeding to borrow a racket...and beat Rui with just a serve which somehow shifted in a way that it hit her in the hand, causing her to drop the racket.

"A fly could land a serve like that." the man said as he went up to her.

"Who are you?" Rui asked, feeling a little insulted at that fly comment.

"Masato Sanjoin. Just an eccentric coach," he said as he walked towards her and moved to pick up the fallen racket. However, right before he touched it, he focused, sending something into it, not that anyone noticed, and soon picked it up and gave it back to Rui. "I apologize for the rough lesson," he said as he gave back the racket. "Just think of putting your weight behind the ball next time."

"O-okay," Rui said uncertainty as she took the racket...and suddenly she felt...strange, but the feeling soon passed, leaving her blinking in surprise.

"Someone come receive her serve!" Masato said, calling some attention as a volunteer stepped up. The match was soon on again...with Rui winning by a landslide, that simple tip apparently all she needed to improve by a large margin.

By the time it was over, Rui had a smile on her face. "Your advice was harsh, but it was really helpful. Thank...you?" she blinked when she turned and found that Masato had vanished.

"Huh...where did that Sanjoin guy go?" Naru asked, as she and Usagi were looking around. They could have sworn he'd been right there a minute ago.

* * *

Later, the group was gathered together in the Hikawa Shrine for a mix of studying and discussion. "Normally the reprieve we've been having would be good, but it's got me worried," Kensuke frowned.

"Other than the part where the Dark Kingdom might be biding their time, why do you say that?" Ami asked.

"Cause activity hasn't just slowed, its stopped," Kensuke frowned, pulling out his pendant. "Hasn't reacted at all, and that has me worried."

"You don't think the Dark Kingdom has control of all the Undead, do you?" Usagi gasped. THAT would be very bad for them.

"At the very least they probably have control of most in the area if not Japan," Kensuke frowned. "Not to mention not a hide or hair of any new plots. I somehow doubt they're taking their sweet time looking for a replacement."

"Hopefully they're just licking their wounds, but I can see what you mean," Rei sighed.

"At any rate, we all need to keep our guard up. There's no telling when the Dark Kingdom will choose to act," Luna said, getting nods of agreement from the group. Little did they know, one plot was already underway.

* * *

"W-what the what?!" the man gasped scaredly as he looked at the hole in the ground where the tennis ball had hit, the ball firmly inside the hole.

On the other side of the field was Rui, having a somewhat manic look in her eyes. "Next!" she grinned, wanting nothing more than to face and win against more opponents, improve her skill, and win and win again.

She just couldn't stop. She wanted more. She needed more. She had to get better, better! BETTER!

As this was happening, in an observatory-like building somewhere, Nephrite smiled as he watched the Youma take control, pushing Rui's energy to the maximum, and the best part was that nobody would be any wiser till it was too late.

Back near the court though, Naru was watching Rui with a concerned look "Is she… ok?"

* * *

"Rui's been acting strangely?" Kensuke blinked as Naru had come to him and Usagi for this.

"Yeah, she always was passionate in tennis...but not so passionate she's been beating professionals and literally putting holes in the court…" Naru frowned. She didn't need to tell them what she was worried was going on.

"That...sounds scarily like those monsters again…" Usagi frowned. "But...we haven't seen anyone else acting weirdly...right?"

"Don't forget. Remember the guy who challenged the Sailor Scouts and Kamen Rider? Assuming he was the boss of those monsters, or at least one of them…" Kensuke trailed off.

"Under new management…" Naru couldn't help but gulp, realizing the implications. If the monsters had a new boss, and this one was actually subtle...she was just glad that she noticed Rui's strange behavior. What they wanted with her big sis...she didn't want to know honestly.

"Guess we'd better tell the heroes," Usagi frowned.

"I hope they'll be able to help, Rui… it scares me what she's turning into." Naru said, thinking of some good memories she had with her sister figure.

"I'm sure they will, just to be sure we have all the info correct, why don't we go check on her?" Kensuke suggested.

"Good idea." Usagi agreed with a nod.

* * *

Later in the evening, they were at the tennis school Rui went to practice, Naru obviously having gone with them, but they also grabbed someone else.

"I seriously hope things don't get out of hand." Rei said with a worried look as they went towards the tennis courts.

When they got there… it was to the sight of a tennis ball landing in someone's gut and sending them flying back, with Rui standing on the other side of the court.

"I think it's too late for that…" Usagi said lamely...looking at the crowd of potential opponents who were scared shitless and looking like they wanted nothing more than to run for their lives as the now practically insane Rui was demanding for more opponents.

"Come on! You're all supposed to be pros! Show me what you're made of!" Rui tried to goad them, but they were all too afraid to challenge her.

Naru couldn't take it anymore. "Big Sis, stop it! This isn't you!" she shouted, running towards Rui.

"No Naru! Don't be a hero!" Kensuke shouted, trying to stop her but too late. She tried to stop Rui...but was knocked away for her trouble, falling on the ground and hitting her head, knocking her out cold.

"Naru!" the group shouted in alarm.

At that moment though, a rabid tennis player was the least of everyone's worries, for her energy had hit its peak, and in response to that, Nephrite knew it was time and invoked his Youma. The racket glowed with an eerie light as waves of malevolent energy were released, Rui gasping as they ran through her, causing her to drop the racket and fall to the ground. The racket continued to glow as the mark at its base glowed brightly, and a shadowy figure started to emerge from it, and soon solidified into the form of a Youma. This Youma's body was mostly black with gold bracelets on its wrists, some sort of red flared collar on its neck, the skin color on the head being a pale lavender color with glowing yellow eyes, pointed ears, and it's hair styled in a flat top. "Your energy is mine now!" the Youma laughed.

"That's...new…" Kensuke blinked. Normally Youma would disguise as humans, but this one was possessing an object. That was honestly more than a little scary.

"And I don't think we should let it run around for long," Rei frowned, looking at where Rui lay. The rest did the same...and gasped at what had happened to her. Put simply, she looked like she'd aged several decades in seconds judging by how her hair had turned white, and she looked thinner, weaker, and generally they had a feeling that they'd better work fast.

"You're right, let's hurry!" Usagi gulped. Fortunately by now everyone else had run away, leaving no witnesses.

"Moon Prism Power, Make Up!"

"Mars Power, Make Up!"

"Henshin!" " **Turn Up!"**

"Let's hurry and beat this one!" Moon frowned.

"Don't think I'm gonna be THAT easy!" the Youma laughed, before a racket of energy appeared in her hand, followed by her launching tennis balls made of energy at the group. Naturally they quickly dodged...and saw what happened to anything that got hit.

"...so if we get hit, we're encased by giant tennis balls…" Mars blinked.

"...embarrassing, strange...but effective in removing you from the field…" Blade mused.

"Basically don't get hit," Moon nodded.

"That's not the only thing I can do!" the Youma smirked...before the objects covered in the tennis balls started floating...and were soon going after them.

"Look out for her balls!" Mars shouted as they dodged.

"That...probably could have come out better…" Blade sweat dropped at the accidental innuendo.

"We're not gonna be able to fight back if she keeps using these on us!" Moon said in alarm, as by now the Youma had created more tennis balls and the number of targets they were forced to dodge or block was increasing.

"Then let's stop dodging!" Blade growled, unfurling the cards in his Rouzer...before something flew through the air and grazed the Youma's face, leaving a cut on it.

"What the-?!" the Youma gasped, as the source was revealed to be Tuxedo Kamen.

"A game is supposed to be for the enjoyment of the players and the audience. To manipulate it for your evil designs is unforgivable," Tuxedo Kamen said with a confident smirk.

"I'd like to see you stop me!" the Youma glared.

"I would, but Blade has first dibs," Tuxedo Kamen chuckled. At that moment…

" **Metal!"** the Rouzer's voice called out, before the Youma was shoulder tackled by Blade who'd now gained a steel gray color, his entire body turning metal, the force sending her off her feet and into the netting nearby, while the balls vanished as her concentration was broken.

"Girls, now!" Blade said, Mars and Moon nodding.

"Fire Soul!"

"Moon Tiara Action!"

Just like the previous times they had done it, the two attacks combined together, and the flaming disc struck the Youma right as it untangled itself from the netting, the creature letting out one last shout of agony before disappearing into ashes.

"And that's that," Blade sighed. "Thanks again for the…and he's gone again."

"Well, he's still a reliable ally," Mars sighed. "Though I wonder what's up with him showing up and vanishing?"

Blade wondered if he should say what he knew when she asked that… and he thought he could say SOMETHING to help them get a better read on Tuxedo Kamen "Well, I managed to talk to him once, he said he's basically there specifically to help Sailor Moon."

"W-wait, me?!" Moon asked in surprise, blushing.

"Well looks like you've got your prince in shining armor," Mars laughed a bit at that.

* * *

The next day had the group gathered as they watched Rui play.

"So she doesn't remember anything?" Usagi asked Naru.

"Yeah, after she woke up, she didn't remember anything for the last couple of nights," Naru nodded.

"Well...at least she's back to normal," Usagi smiled, having told Naru a modified story of what happened last night.

"Yeah...though I can't believe those monsters are possessing items now…" Naru frowned. "I hope the Sailor Scouts and Blade can stop whoever is causing these monster soon…"

"I'm sure they will… eventually." Usagi said with a sweatdrop, herself hoping things would stop soon.

* * *

 **And there we go!**

 **Yeah, Jadeite... he's straight up dead here.**

 **And the girls were a bit shaken up by having to kill someone, which makes sense.**

 **Other than that, yeah, the start of the Nephrite arc... things are going to get... interesting.**

 **Also, something new starting this chapter.**

 **Card Tally:**

 **Blade:**

 **Spade: Ace, 2, 5, 6, 7**

 **Club: 3**

 **Diamond: 2**

 **Chalice:**

 **Heart: Ace, 2**

 **Spade: 10**


	10. Card 10

**Hey everyone!**

 **Been a little while huh?**

 **Well, Timeless and I have been working on a bit of a secret story recently, however, we took a break from it to come and finish this chapter we had started a few weeks ago.**

 **It's a short and sweet one, but it has some nice bits that I hope you'll enjoy.**

* * *

"This park is always so relaxing," Kensuke sighed as he breathed in some of the clean air of the park. Something the town couldn't really offer what with all the vehicles and stuff…

"It certainly helps when I'm having a hard time studying," Ami said in agreement.

"And I never knew a place like this was here!" Usagi said as she took in the sight of the location they were in, overlooking a nice body of water.

"It'd be a great place to spend some time," Rei smiled.

"Though...where are the park keepers? Keeping a park like this well maintained would need a lot of people," Kensuke mused.

"Actually...about that…" Ami sighed.

They soon arrived in another area of the park, this one having a small flower garden, with an old man tending to it, wearing a simpel grey shirt with brown pants and a hat.

"Hi there sir." Ami said as she went up to the man, who turned to her and smiled warmly.

"Oh, hello there Ami." the man greeted.

After a bit of talking with the man…

"Woah, you take care of this big park all by yourself?" Usagi said in surprise, feeling very impressed.

"It's not a big deal," the man chuckled, before frowning. "Sadly that won't be for much longer…" he said, looking at some construction in another side of the park. "The land owner sold this park, and now its going to be turned into a business district…"

"What a waste…" Kensuke frowned. "Personally I think the city could use a park more than another business district."

"I agree, but sadly the developers don't see it that way…" the man sighed again.

"I wish we could do something about that…" Ami frowned.

"Actually….this park may have a land owner, but it IS technically still a public park, right?" Kensuke mused.

"Well...yes it is, why?" the man blinked.

"Well...they can't exactly tear it down if the city itself doesn't want it to be torn down...right?" he continued.

"I get it, you want to petition to stop the construction," Rei realized.

"But...wouldn't that take a lot of money and time?" Ami frowned.

"Let's just say...the first part isn't an issue. Besides, if we move fast, we can get some signatures and the like."

"That's a great idea! Let's do it!" Usagi grinned.

The man smiled at them "Thank you kids for wanting to do this, I hope your idea works." he said with a grateful smile.

* * *

"Where did everyone go?" Luna frowned, walking around town. Usagi had run off earlier, so now she was looking around for them. However, she probably should have paid more attention, as she was crossing the road...while the crossing light was red, and a truck was speeding towards her. She screamed as her life flashed before her eyes, but instead of being turned into street pizza, she felt someone grab her, and when she finally opened her eyes, she found herself in the hands of Mamoru.

"That was WAY too close," he sighed, having clearly been out on a jog. He was REALLY glad he'd noticed the cat and the that the truck had been far enough for him to grab it in time. Looking down at the cat, he felt like it was familiar to him "You're… Usagi's cat I think?"

At that moment, Usagi and Co. turned into the street, and noticed Mamoru holding Luna. "Huh? Mamoru? What are you doing with Luna?" Usagi asked.

"Well, let's just say I made sure your cat remained...three dimensional…" Mamoru sweat dropped, giving Luna back to Usagi. "Please take better care of her next time."

"Three dimensional…?" Usagi blinked, right as another large truck went by, and it clicked in her mind. "Gah! Thank you very much for saving her!"

"We got lucky there." Kensuke chuckled awkwardly.

"Just make sure you keep an eye on her next time," Mamoru sighed. "I'm just glad nobody got hurt."

"Yeah, thanks again." Usagi sighed, before perking up "Oh, by the way, think you could help us with something?"

Mamoru blinked in confusion "Help with what?"

* * *

"A petition huh? Not a bad idea, if enough people sign it, then the city can't ignore it." Mamoru mused after being told the full story, the group resting at a table in the arcade at the moment.

"And it really would be better for the city if it has a park like that," Motoki said in agreement. "You've got my vote."

"Great, so that's one vote down, as many more as we can get to go," Rei smiled.

"Right, we need signature boards, a permit, and plenty more like minded people," Kensuke nodded.

"Let's do this!" Usagi cheered, while Ami smiled.

* * *

Meanwhile, back at the park, the park keeper frowned deeply as he watched the construction underway. Though what the youngsters had told him gave him hope, the sight before him filled him with great anger.

"It's a despicable sight." a voice from behind said, making him turn around to see, unknown to him, Nephrite walking up to him.

"Who are you young man?" the keeper asked in surprise.

"My identity is of no importance. What IS important though is that humans seem to have forgotten the importance of nature in the world. They need to learn nature's wrath. And you will be the one to teach them." Nephrite said as he went to stand next to the man, before he held out his hand towards the man's hat and focused. A pulse of energy occured before a symbol appeared on the hat, the Youma having been successfully planted. When it was over, the man blinked...and realized Nephrite was gone. Despite that, he felt...strange. He felt his desire to protect the park grow...and that's when things got...strange.

Insects and animals gathered, and began attacking the people working on the construction, chaos ensuing as the men tried to fend off the animals, while the insects swarmed, attacking the men and even crawling into the machines, causing damage inside them. Before long the men ran away, abandoning the site, and only when they left the park did the rabid creatures finally stop.

* * *

"Thank you for your support," Kensuke nodded as he got another signature. By now they'd been able to start up the petitions to oppose the plans to develop the park into a new business complex. So far they were doing well enough, getting signatures from the people who agreed that a park would be better for the city compared to a new business district. However, at the same time they also had to deal with people who DID think a business district would serve the city better.

"So far so good," Ami smiled as she went over the pages full of signatures.

"But I wish people didn't have to be so mean!" Usagi complained, huffing at the memory of some of the more...snide...people who couldn't just do the decent thing and walk away politely.

"There are people like that everywhere sadly. Let's just work hard to prove them wrong," Rei frowned.

"Yeah, just imagine the looks on their faces when we get enough signatures and stop the construction," Kensuke grinned...before he felt a familiar hot feeling. "Uh oh…"

"Oh well that's just perfect timing." Usagi sighed, knowing what a random 'uh oh' from him meant, as they quickly packed up and started heading in the direction his pendant was reacting.

They soon found themselves in a section of the construction site, with several workers, vines wrapped around their necks as they struggled. Looking to the source of the vines, they saw a creature with a mostly black body that had several spikes, or rather thorns, sticking out of it in various parts, with vines sticking out of it's torso, and it's right arm turning into vines near the hand, and the face… well, it looked nothing like a face, they could say that much.

"Category 7 of Hearts, Plant Undead." Kensuke said with a narrowed gaze.

"That's pretty high on the list," Usagi gulped.

"And it's got people caught. We have to save them!" Rei said.

"Everyone transform!" Ami said, to which everyone pulled out their respective devices.

"Moon Prism Power, Make Up!"

"Mercury Power, Make Up!"

"Mars Power, Make up!"

"Henshin!" " **Turn Up!"**

"Fire Soul!" Mars called out, shooting the Plant Undead with her attack, and it being a plant, fire was QUITE effective.

"Moon Tiara Action!" Moon called out, throwing her tiara which cut through the various vines, freeing the workers.

"Shabon Spray!" Mercury finished, covering the area in fog, while the group got the workers to safety, leaving the Undead confused in the fog. Once everyone was safe…

" **Slash!"**

The Undead gasped in pain as it was suddenly cut in the chest, sending it tumbling back. It hissed as the fog cleared, before spreading its arms...followed by the plants around it seemingly coming to life as they grew and went for the four heroes.

"What the heck?!" Mars gasped.

"Crap! Undead can sometimes manipulate their progeny into doing their bidding!" Blade realized.

"And we're in the middle of a park. Sure its a construction site, but there are still a lot of plants!" Mercury realized.

"And we can't exactly fight the entire park!" Moon added as they were busy trying to evade or defend themselves without damaging the park. It'd be counter productive if they did…

Fortunately they didn't need to fight long, as something flew through the air...and promptly hit the Undead in the face, causing it to roar in pain.

Moon was about to cheer for the usual sudden arrival… except that wasn't a rose in the Undead's face, but rather an arrow made of energy, which was already dissipating.

"I guess it's a good thing I was in the area." spoke a voice none of them had heard before, making them turn to see, standing on top of a crane…

"Kamen Rider Chalice…" Blade gasped in surprise at seeing his fellow rider.

"Yo, Blade. About time we properly met. Well… sort of." Chalice chuckled as he jumped down.

"Um… you're here to help us… right?" Moon asked, unsurely.

"Of course, Kamen Riders all work for the same goal, and besides, this jerk is from my suit. It's only fair I help you with him." Chalice said, and they had the feeling he was smirking beneath his helmet.

"Not gonna look a gift horse in the mouth," Blade smirked. "Let's get this guy!"

The Undead quickly recovered from its sudden face shot, but a bit late, as the two Riders were already upon it, hitting it at the same time, sending it tumbling back. And then they didn't let up, the Undead barely having any chances to counter as the two Riders kept practically wailing on it with their weapons.

"Let's keep this short and sweet," Chalice said, going for his buckle, and sliding a section of it off, before attaching it to his bow, turning it into its Rouzer mode, and pulling out two Rouse Cards from a sort of pocket in the side of his belt, which Blade recognized as the 5 and 6 of Hearts, Drill Shell and Tornado Hawk.

"Agreed. Less chances for it to hurt more people," Blade frowned, pulling out the Kick and Thunder cards too, before both scanned the cards.

" **Drill! Tornado!"**

" **Kick! Thunder!"**

A tornado kicked up around Chalice as he was lifted into the air and spun around a bit, before the tornado aimed for the Undead, while Blade charged up with electricity.

"Spinning Attack!"

"Lightning Blast!"

Chalice flew towards the Undead in a high speed drill kick, while Blade jumped and flipped in the air, his leg charged with electricity. The Undead barely had time to react as one foot plowed into it, shocking it with lightning followed by the second kick hitting it with so much force it was sent spinning back, and rammed into a tree before falling over and exploding. When the explosion cleared it was on its back, belt having cracked open.

"Time to put you away," Chalice said, opening his pocket and drawing out a Proper Blank. However, before he could actually use it, a flurry of movement happened, before the gathered heroes were swarmed by….squirrels?

"What the what?!" Blade gasped as the furry little demons were crawling all over them, chittering and biting where they could, something that was notably worse for the girls cause they had exposed skin, while the boys were having a hard time seeing with the little things crawling all over their heads.

"Get off me!" Mars growled, trying to get the squirrels off.

"This is NOT normal animal behavior!" Mercury shouted.

"They're crawling everywhere!" Moon shouted in mild panic...and some laughter as some of the squirrels were crawling under her outfit.

Fortunately for some reason the squirrels calmed down by themselves and soon ran off, much to their relief. But still… "Rabid squirrels. Since when were THOSE a thing?" Chalice sweatdropped.

"They aren't last I checked," Blade sighed...before noticing something was missing. "...where did the Undead go?"

The group's eyes widened and they turned to see the Undead was gone. "Those squirrels might have just been a distraction," Mercury frowned.

"Great, so it's another Undead the Dark Kingdom has under its control, considering there aren't any Squirrel Undeads," Blade groaned.

"It'd be bad if it attacked people again," Chalice frowned, before jumping up a tree. "I'll see if I can track it down. I'll see you all another time," he said, before jumping away.

"Hey, hold up a bit!" Blade called after him, but Chalice was already gone "Ah, darn it, I should have given him Bullet when I had the chance, he would have had more use for it."

"But more importantly, so now a Youma's here too," Mars frowned.

"If it's like the last one, we need to find who its possessing," Moon frowned.

"Problem is...we don't know anyone who's acting strangely…" Mercury said.

"For now we'll just have to keep our eyes peeled. If it's anything like the last time, we'll find it eventually...I hope…" Blade sighed.

* * *

"Okay, as important as the signatures are, we got a Youma AND an Undead running around," Kensuke frowned. "So spread out girls, it's time we looked for any rumors."

"Right," the three of them nodded as they spread out. At first they didn't find anything of note...until they found something. Namely several people who look like they got into a fight and lost. When they were asked what happened...the stories varied from rabid squirrels to birds, and even a swarm of bees.

Another they noticed, most of those people claimed to be construction workers.

"...suddenly I think I know who was possessed," Kensuke sighed.

"Yes, it has to be him…" Ami agreed. Attacks on people who were 'harming' the park? Right now the only person who fit that bill was...the park keeper.

With that in mind, they went into the park to look for the man, and hopefully get the Youma away from him before things escalated.

Sadly… they weren't fast enough. Right when they found the man near the lake in the park, it was just in time to see the Youma emerge from whatever object it had been imprinted on, the man collapsing and looking like he was now close to dying any day. As for the Youma, it had purple skin, a mess of vines for hair, looking like she was wearing a light green pair of pants that rode up to her stomach with an armored bodice, flower petals on her wrists.

"Well shit," Kensuke groaned as they quickly transformed.

"We have to defeat the Youma quickly! I don't know what kind of effects a massive energy drain would have on an older person!" Mercury said.

"Even more reason to do this fast!" Moon agreed, before throwing her Tiara, not even waiting this time. However, the Tiara didn't reach its target as a vine slapped it away, to which she quickly got it back, the vine revealing to be the Plant Undead, its belt now fixed, showing it had recovered enough since its last battle.

"And looks like he's back for more," Mars added with a frown.

"And found it! Oh, hey, funny coincidence." Chalice said as he arrived, looking at them in surprise.

"You are WAY too gung-ho." Blade told him in deadpan, making Chalice sweatdrop and laugh awkwardly.

"My girlfriend says the same thing sometimes." Chalice admitted.

"Can we focus on the monsters for a second here? And yes, I'm saying that despite being curious about what heart boy there just said." Moon asked them dryly, making Chalice mutter about the name she gave him.

When they looked back to the Youma and the Undead… the Youma was leaning on the Undead, and seemed to be… acting flirty with it… yeah, that was weird to look at.

Meanwhile, over where Nephrite was hiding, he facepalmed as he watched his Youma act like that, while Kujaku laughed from seeing the Undead just let her do so.

Back at the fight, the group was rather...weirded out at what they were seeing. "It's like a trainwreck. I just can't stop looking," Chalice said blandly.

"Well… let's just off these two idiots while their too busy… flirting… I can't believe two monsters are flirting, and I can freaking see the undead moving his vines on her and it's freaky." Moon said blankly, before transitioning to annoyed hissing.

"I don't blame you, this is so dumb right now." Mars said, her face in her hands, a bit ashamed that THIS was their enemy.

"Right, give me a second." Mercury sighed, before gathering her attack in her hands "Shabon Spray!" and cue a fog forming over the area.

"Hey, mind if I handle this, I have a combo idea I'd like to do." Chalice asked.

"Does it involve one of my cards?" Blade asked knowingly.

Chalice chuckled "Yeah, depends on if your Thunder recharged though?" his answer was Blade presenting him the card, which had regained its energy already.

"Alright." Chalice muttered as he accepted the card and put his weapon into Rouzer mode, before grabbing the cards he wanted and scanning them " **Drill! Tornado! Thunder!"** His body lifting into the air from the wind while lightning arced over his body "Thunderstorm Spinner!" he shouted as he spun on himself like a drill, made faster by the wind as lightning arced off from him in all directions, ramming straight into the fog, and absolutely DESTROYING the Youma, along with harming the Undead so much it keeled over and it's buckle unlocked, Chalice throwing his Proper Blank at it before receiving the Bio Plant card.

Meanwhile…

"Note to self...don't stick Youma and Undead of similar affinity together!" Kujaku said...while he was rolling on the floor laughing.

"I want to say I'm angry at this failure...but I can't help but agree…" Nephrite groaned into his hand. He just hoped the sheer absurdity of this would be enough to have Queen Beryl wave it off.

* * *

After the Undead and Youma were gone, things were back to normal...mostly.

"Well...guess we won't need to worry about the park development…" Blade sweat dropped.

"What makes you say that?" Chalice snorted, having heard the gist of it from them.

As if on cue, a butterfly landed on one of the remaining parts of what used to be the skeleton of one of the buildings...and the whole thing promptly caved in on itself.

"Lucky guess…" Moon sweat dropped. Yeah...the park was safe...albeit not quite in the way they were expecting.

"Well, anyway, it was nice meeting you all, but if you'll excuse me, I gotta hurry, I'm almost late for my date!" Chalice said before jumping away.

"Ah, dammit, I forgot again." Blade sighed as Chalice was already too far away once he remembered.

Once the moment was passed, they quickly made sure the park keeper was alright, being relieved at finding him perfectly fine, just unconscious. And after that, they quickly left… because they wanted to avoid being labelled as the ones that broke the equipment.

* * *

It was a week after the park incident, with the park thankfully remaining just that considering all the construction equipment got broken, and the city decided to give up on it if it was such a hassle. So far things have been quiet, but well...it WAS only just a week.

Currently Usagi was in the middle of Home Economics class, specifically the sewing classes...and somehow the Home Economics teacher, Ms. Higure was acting a bit off. Not possessed by a Youma off, but more...like she wasn't really having her head in the lesson. Plus there was that far off stare she'd have every now and then. It was enough to make her nod off at times, though thankfully the parts she blanked out of were noted down by Naru.

Once the class was over, the two girls were on the roof, were tables had been set up and an ice cream vendor had put up shop as well.

"Ok, I'm pretty sure her classes were never this boring before." Usagi sighed as she ate her ice cream.

"Tell me about it, it's different from the things with the monsters at least, you can tell by looking, but it's still weird." Naru added.

"I have the answer to this one." Umino said as he was passing by and stopped when he heard them, pulling a chair to sit down.

"Ok, shoot, what's happening to her?" Usagi asked curiously.

"Well, as most of the students know, Ms. Higure's dream is to have a beautiful wedding where she wears a wedding dress that she made herself." Umino started, the girls nodding, already knowing that much "And, as it turns out, somebody actually proposed to her recently."

"Wait, really?" Naru asked with a smile.

"Yes, from what I've gathered, he's not the most noteworthy man, being just a simple business man, and he isn't very tall, but, as long as there's love, it'll all work out." Umino finished with a smile.

"Yeah… I guess so… personally though I'd at least like if my husband is taller than me, but that's just me." Usagi said in amusement.

"Either way, I hope she'll be happy," Naru said with a smile to which both of them nodded in agreement.

* * *

"I see...that is indeed very worrying," Kazuma frowned. Currently Kensuke was in his apartment and had taken the opportunity to contact his parents again, while also reporting on the progress of the Hunt. Suffice to say the Tribe wouldn't be happy to learn one of the Royal Undead was working with the Dark Kingdom.

"I've also made contact with Chalice a few times, though he seems to be pursuing his own goals for the moment," Kensuke continued.

"A little odd, but as long as he continues to fight the Undead, that's his choice," Shiori frowned. "Whatever the case, we're glad things are going more or less well."

"It's going a lot smoother thanks to the help I've been getting," Kensuke nodded. "It helps when your little sister figure is quite reliable, same as your friends," he chuckled.

"Oh? If that's the case I think we'd like to meet our new daughter sometime," Shiori laughed, the family sharing in the good natured joke.

* * *

Meanwhile, Usagi sneezed as she was walking home. "Someone must be talking about me," she mumbled, before she noticed a wedding going on at Juban Hall. "The bride looks great," she smiled. "This must be the dream of every woman in love…" she said, admiring the procession. That was also when she noticed a sign being set up. "A handmade wedding dress contest?" she blinked, reading the details. Apparently whoever won would get a free wedding reception.

"Excuse me, but are you sure about this? What if the winner doesn't have a fiance, or the wedding date isn't set? Will the prize last that long?" came a familiar voice, as she turned to see Rei asking the promoter a few questions, several teenage girls nearby having a look of realization when she said that.

"Not to worry miss, the prize is valid for a lifetime," the promoter said simply with a smile.

"Is that so? Alright then," Rei nodded. The last thing she wanted was for this to be a scam of some kind.

"Funny running into you here," Usagi said, walking up to Rei. "Thinking of joining the contest?"

"Usagi?" Rei blinked, not expecting to see her here. "No, not really. I haven't really been thinking about stuff like that, so I don't think this'll be any good for me," she shrugged. "What about you?"

"I might have considered, but only one problem...I can't sew a decent dress to save my own life," Usagi admitted with a chuckle.

"I guess that makes two of us," Rei smirked a little.

"Well, as nice as this sounds, looks like its no good for both of us," Usagi shrugged. "So...going back?"

"Yeah, I'm going down this path today," Rei nodded as they started walking.

"Hm...if you take this way…" Usagi mused before she realized which way that would go. "My house is along the way. Want to stop by? Mom's been asking me to introduce you and Ami to her," Usagi offered.

"Well, if she's looking forward to it, then don't mind if I do," Rei chuckled.

* * *

"Well, it's nice to finally meet one of her new friends." Ikuko said as she brought some iced tea to the small table in the living room.

"Well we do go to different schools, so I guess the chance never really presented itself," Rei said with a small smile.

"I'm glad to know she's gotten so many good friends now," Ikuko smiled.

"Well, we've disagreed here and there, but nothing weird in any friendship," Rei chuckled. "But she's a great friend and I'm glad I met her."

"Awww, thanks Rei," Usagi rubbed the back of her head bashfully.

"Here, it's not much but please enjoy," Ikuko said as she gave Rei a slice of cake, to which she tried it and smiled.

"It's good. Did you make this yourself?" Rei asked.

"I'm glad you enjoyed it, but I can't take credit for that. Never was a very good baker, so most of our sweets are store bought," Ikuko admitted with a slight sweat drop.

* * *

After the visit, the two stopped by at Ami's house and were now chatting regarding the wedding dress contest.

"I really wish I could enter it though." Usagi sighed "I'm no good at sewing, but if I was, I could possibly win and have a wedding squared away without having to worry about paying for it."

"Can't say I blame you when you put it like that, those do end up costing a lot most of the time." Rei said with a nod.

"You know, I could teach you if you want." Ami offered Usagi with a smile.

"Really? Sure, I'm up for it, maybe I'll learn something since the Home Economics teacher has her head in the clouds from her wedding." Usagi accepted happily.

Right after she said that, Ami dropped a pile of books in front of her "These should help you get started, when you're done with them, I can REALLY start teaching you."

Usagi and Rei both had dry looks at that "Ami you're really something else…"

* * *

Meanwhile, at a cloth shop in town… it was utter chaos. Inside a LOT of women were busy fighting over the various materials sold in the shop, all of them in a bid to win the wedding dress contest, and caught in the middle of it was Ms. Higure who looked afraid to get into the thick of it for fear of losing a limb. However, in the middle of the fight, some cloth flew her way, to which she caught, and her eyes widened when she saw it. "This is…!"

She didn't get to finish as someone else cut in. "Beautiful," the voice said, revealing to be Nephrite in his guise as Masato Sanjoin. "It is very beautiful," he said.

"E-excuse me?" Ms. Higure stuttered, a small blush on her face. Even if she was already with someone, there was no denying that he was rather handsome.

"Just a moment please," Masato said, taking the cloth from her and holding it to the light. "This is a lovely silk. A silk worthy of becoming your wedding dress," he said, before wrapping it around himself. "Oh, I can just see you standing under a sky full of stars and walking along a shoreline. Every star is sure to sparkle and bestow its blessing to you," he said, laying it on thick, before placing a hand on the cloth… and planting a Youma into it before returning it to Ms. Higure by wrapping it around her. "Here. I wish you happiness."

Ms. Higure had a dreamy look in her eyes at that, but little did she know that the youma symbol had lit up and was beginning to influence her.

* * *

"You know...whatever happened to Ms. Higure?" Usagi asked, as they were all in Home Economics...and Ms. Higure was a no show. Again.

"That IS strange. She's been absent for the last few days," Naru frowned, before the two of them looked at each other. "You don't think…?"

"I think we better take a look," Usagi nodded.

* * *

The two of them were later at Ms. Higure's apartment (having asked Umino who knew...they decided not to think too hard on why he'd know), and the first thing they saw...was a rather average looking guy with a bouquet, going up the stairs.

"Wonder who that is?" Usagi blinked.

"Well...judging by the bouquet, I think that's her fiance," Naru mused.

"That doesn't look like a good sign," Usagi frowned, noticing how he looked too much like someone trying to fix a mistake of some kind.

"I hope nothing bad happened between then." Naru added in worry, as the two watched him go up to Ms. Higure's door and knock on it, probably saying something to her through the door, but they were too far away to hear.

The door soon opened...and Ms. Higure did NOT look well. She looked dishelved, with bags under her eyes, and generally a look that screamed she wasn't taking good care of herself.

Now VERY worried, the two got closer, hoping to hear, and what they heard...well, their relationship wasn't in danger that's for sure. Ms. Higure apologized for not taking his calls and even happily accepted the bouquet, but not long after she asked him to leave, saying she had to focus on the wedding dress, and she asked him not to contact her until after the contest. In short...she was a little TOO focused on that dress.

"Okay...I get wanting to win the competition, but this is too much…" Usagi frowned. This was something the others would need to know.

* * *

"And that's what we saw," Usagi said. Currently she was at the temple with Rei, Ami, Kensuke, and Luna.

"That's definitely worrying," Kensuke frowned. The sudden focus shift and obsession definitely fit the bill so far.

"Not just that. I think I sensed a Youma's presence from that woman," Luna spoke up. "The problem is, even if we know that, we don't actually know how to deal with the issue," Luna frowned.

"That's true. To begin with she's locked herself in her apartment meaning we can't just get in there without breaking and entering…" Ami frowned.

"Yeah, I don't think we'll like the headlines that would likely follow…" Rei added dryly.

"Superheroes break into nice school teacher's house...yeah, I can see how bad that's gonna go…" Kensuke sweat dropped.

"So we have to wait till it comes out?" Usagi frowned, not liking where this was going.

"Doesn't look like we have a choice…" Luna sighed. "For now we should try to keep an eye on her as much as we can.

"Right," the group nodded.

* * *

Things were uneventful for a while, as it seemed Ms. Higure was fully invested in making the dress. With how serious she was, it wasn't hard to figure out that this was going to be for the Wedding Dress Competition, and as such the group planned to infiltrate the contest.

The group were gathered near the competition venue. "Okay, everyone ready?" Kensuke asked.

"Ready," the rest nodded, before Usagi took out the Disguise Pen and she and Ami held on to it, using it to disguise them as brides for the contest. In the meantime, Rei was with him to watch from the audience just in case something happened up on the stage.

At first things seemed normal, yet strangely enough, Ms. Higure wasn't among the brides. That was when she seemed to decide to crash the party showing up 'fashionably late' from the upper stage somehow.

"That looks nothing like a wedding dress." Kensuke muttered as he looked at the purple dress with a pretty weird looking cape attached to it.

Hell, he'd taken the time to look over every contestant, only about a quarter of the women had actually made traditional white gowns.

Whatever the case it seemed she was winning the hearts of the audience, despite the announcer at first telling her she couldn't just do her own thing like that. It seemed anyone who looked at her fell in love at first sight...or more specifically her eyes. No doubt a side effect of whatever Youma was possessing her. As it was, she was no doubt going to be crowned the winner...before 'it' happened. A familiar burst of darkness came out of her, and she soon fell to the ground, while a dark figure materialized over her.

The Youma this time looked very much like a spider humanoid, with 8 limbs, four of which were spider legs, and the other four were her arms and legs which ended in pointed appendages, though she also had antenna for some reason, and a large backside (for the spinneret obviously).

"Man these things are always so freaky." Usagi said with a slight shiver as she looked at it.

"They certainly aren't the most appealing." Ami admitted.

"Whelp, time to deal with it. Again," Rei sighed as she and Kensuke got on the stage (everyone else had fainted because of the hypnosis like effect).

"Moon Prism Power, Make Up!"

"Mercury Power, Make Up!"

"Mars Power, Make Up!"

"Henshin!" " **TURN UP!"**

The Youma immediately attacked using threads from her mouth...or rather...webs. The group quickly evaded, the webs webbing up anything that it hit. "Okay, so the spider thing wasn't just for show," Moon gulped a little.

"Then let's make sure she can't hit us with it!" Mercury frowned. "Shabon Spray!"

The bubbles soon turned into a field of mist, blocking them from the Youma's view.

"Not bad, but not good enough!" the Youma roared as she soon spun a web , making for a field where she'd be safe from attack, while they couldn't get close…. or so she thought.

"You're not that bright are you?" Mars deadpanned. "Fire Soul!"

The web was soon on fire, and the Youma was soon flailing about as she tried to put it out, but soon got caught in the flames and fell to the ground in a bid to put out the fire. "Damn you!" she growled, firing more webs, but…

" **SLASH!"** The webs were promptly cut apart by Blade who'd already been ready. "All yours, Moon!"

"Right!" Moon nodded as she grabbed her tiara. "Moon Tiara Action!" she called out, throwing it, the Youma firing webbing, but it was for naught, as the tiara cut through the webbing and soon through her, destroying her quickly enough.

"I think we're getting too used to fighting these things…" Moon sighed as the tiara came back to her. They were really starting to fight like clockwork.

* * *

"I'm glad everything turned out okay," Rei said with a small smile as they watched Ms. Higure's wedding. Turns out even with the Youma and everything, she still won, so she and her fiance could have their big day for free.

"Yeah, hope they'll be happy together always," Usagi smiled as Ms. Higure threw the bouquet of flowers, several women fighting over it, before it was knocked away...and landed right in Kensuke's arms.

"...okay?" Kensuke blinked.

"Aww, I wanted to catch it." Usagi pouted, before grinning "I wonder who the lucky girl's gonna be though?"

"Give me a break." Kensuke sighed out.

* * *

 **And there you have it! Like I said, this one is short and sweet, and while you'd almost think it's filler at first, Chalice would say otherwise.**

 **But yeah, we're progressing nicely through the first season, we already finished what would normally be Episode 16.**

 **So, I hope you're looking forward to more!**


	11. Card 11

**Hey everyone!**

 **Been a little while since we posted a chapter of this hasn't it?**

 **Anyway, I hope you're ready, because we have some surprises in store for this chapter.**

 **Here we go!**

* * *

It was a quiet night for the city, most either asleep or staying up for various reasons. However, in the park, things were anything but quiet.

"Look out for the powder! You do NOT want to get hit!" Chalice shouted as he rolled out of the way as a stream of glowing powder like substance flew where he used to be...and promptly started melting a street lamp that had been hit instead.

"Let's see who has the better fire! Fire Soul!" Mars called out, shooting her attack at their opponent, right after Mercury used Shabon Spray to at least make it harder for their opponent to see them. The opponent in question was an Undead with a moth's head, black leather covering most of its body save for its arms and stomach, and large moth wings made of mirrors on its back.

The spell sailed towards the Undead, but before it could hit, the Undead noticed the light from the fire, and flared out its wings, followed by what appeared to be a mirror of some kind appearing before it, the fire spell hitting...and being sent right back.

Mars let out what sounded like a squawk as she dove out of the way of her own attack.

"They weren't kidding when they said its called 'Reflect'!" Moon gasped.

"Sorry girls, but this one is one of the more troublesome Undead thanks to THAT power," Blade said, charging forward to try and catch the Undead in close range, managing to evade some of the powder and landing a few strikes on the Undead...but it didn't look like it even FELT the attacks. And then it followed up with a point blank spray of its powder, forcing Blade to get away and quickly roll on the ground to minimize the powder on him before it ignited.

"Well then, let's try this!" Chalice growled, swiping his cards through the Rouzer. " **Drill! Tornado!"** "Spinning Attack!" he roared as he flew towards the Undead, but it quickly raised its defense again, the drill kick meeting it head on, struggling against the barrier which cracked a bit...before the force finally rebounded, sending Chalice flying back and into a tree. "I'm okay!" he managed to say, though he sounded a bit dazed.

The Moth Undead however seemed like it had had enough for tonight, and spreading its wings, soon took to the skies.

* * *

Usagi was in a glum mood that morning. Last night had been terrible, with an Undead getting away, and as if to pour salt in the wound, when she looked at the morning papers, something she dreaded was present. Several workers in a local construction site had been found dead, the cause of death seemingly intense heat...despite them not using anything that could generate the heat needed for something like that. In short, not only did they fail to stop the Undead, but because of that it went on a killing spree…

Thankfully her train of thought was cut short when she heard some of her classmates chatting about something. That something turned out to be a magazine regarding photos taken.

"What's going on?" she asked Naru as she scooted closer.

"Just look." her friend said simply, pointing at some of the pictures in the magazine, and Usagi had to admit, these were all REALLY good. The photographer in question was one Kijin Shinokawa, a Junior High Schooler who was apparently from a school in the area.

"Wow, he must be really good to receive the highest picture honors," Usagi blinked.

"Yeah, he must be a genius," one of her classmates said.

"Hard to believe we got a celebrity in the area!" another said. "Wonder if we can get his autograph."

Usagi sweat dropped a bit, and decided to back away for now. Besides...as interesting as this was, they had more important things to deal with right now…

* * *

It wasn't long before school was over, and Usag was on her way home. She took a slightly faster route, figuring that once she got home, she could call everyone else and they could all get to work on trying to find a way to stop the Moth Undead, especially if Kensuke might have some information from his family's records that might have some information on a weak point or something.

As she was walking she noticed several reporters around someone. "What's going on?" she blinked...right as she noticed some of her schoolmates going towards the reporters...before she noticed Rei get in the way, telling the girls off. It was at this point that Usagi realized the person the reporters were surrounding was the very person that had taken all the photos. It seemed the girls were aiming to get autographs...but just because. Clearly Rei didn't agree with basically wanting to hound someone just because they were famous. Eventually they backed off, probably scared away by Rei. With them gone, Usagi walked over towards her. "Sorry about them, I noticed they were talking a lot about the Photos Shinokawa took," Usagi said. "Didn't think he'd actually be out in the streets right now."

"Well, it IS after school, though it just so happened the reporters were here," Rei sighed. "Honestly, if they actually had interest in photography it wouldn't be so bad, but like this they're treating him like he's a spectacle," she said disapprovingly.

"Yeah, not very nice towards the person when you think about it." Usagi said with a wince, before she looked to her friend "I'm guessing you just happened to be in the area since your school is nearby?"

"Yeah, I was passing here on my way to the shrine when I saw all the reporters… their like vultures at times." Rei muttered, and Usagi found herself agreeing.

"So uh...how are you?" Usagi asked, her expression a little glum.

Rei sighed, already knowing what she meant. "We knew it was only a matter of time, but it doesn't make it any easier…" she said, referring to the recent news. "We can't change what's already happened, so all we can do is make sure that next time we encounter it, we defeat it."

"Right. I'm sure Kensuke and Chalice will find something. Their families HAVE been watching over these things for thousands of years," Usagi nodded.

* * *

A few hours later saw Usagi back at home, taking care of the homework for the day so she wouldn't have to worry about it later...and just in case tonight was another 'night in town' seeing as there was still an Undead on the loose. "Any word from Kensuke?" she asked when she noticed Luna walk into the room.

"Nothing so far," Luna said. "He says he's still trying to find a way, though he did confirm the Reflect ability is tied to the Undead's wings."

"So if we break the wings, we stop the reflect," Usagi brightened.

"The problem is HOW do we get a hit in to break the wings," Luna sighed.

"...good point…" Usagi admitted. How would they even get close enough?

* * *

"This...isn't going to work…" Kensuke groaned, going over the cards on hand. He'd poured over some of the information he'd managed to get on the Moth Undead and well...it wasn't comforting. He'd even considered using Time Scarab from Chalice...only to realize that would ALSO be a problem, seeing as it worked by projecting a field of sorts that causes time to shift and slow down...a field which if they were unlucky, the Reflect ability would work on and THEY'D be in a horrible situation.

Sighing, he picked up his communicator. After running into Chalice a few times, they'd decided it best for Luna to make another one just in case, and after last night's fiasco, they'd managed to give it to him (AND the Bullet Card), so if needs be they could communicate. Such as right now. Getting the communicator to match up to the one they gave Chalice, he contacted his fellow Rider.

"Hey Blade. Guess you're trying to think of a plan too huh?" was the first thing Chalice said once he answered.

"Yeah, I almost thought that Time Scarab would work… but then I realised Moth could possibly reflect the effects of the time slowing field to affect us and not him." Kensuke explained with a sigh.

He could hear Chalice wince from the other end of the line "Yeah… that would end badly for us." he sighed "The main issue is none of our attacks are fast enough to strike at Reflect Moth without risking he send them back to us. If only we could move quickly enough to cut of his wings."

Kensuke nodded… before blinking as a thought struck him "Fast enough… that's it!"

"You have an idea?" Chalice asked.

"Well, the start of one. We need to find Mach Jaguar. If we can seal him, we can use his speed to get inside of Moth's guard and cut off his wings." Kensuke explained.

"Well… I guess that's better than nothing. And it should work, yeah. Move too fast for him for him to actually be able to reflect, and we just might be able to do this." Chalice agreed… though Kensuke heard something in the background.

"Are you… are you with your girlfriend right now?" he asked as he was pretty sure he was hearing a female voice, which suddenly let out an eep in the background and probably clammed up at being called out.

Chalice chuckled "Yeah, but don't worry, she knows about the Undead."

"Alright, that's fair in that case." Kensuke nodded, if his girlfriend knew about the Undead and was still with him, she was cleared to listen to their conversation. "At any rate, this is both useful...and a problem. We might have a possible solution, but until we get it, we've got an Undead we can't actually stop running loose," Kensuke frowned.

"Yeah, almost wish this one was under the Dark Kingdom's control. At least THOSE guys keep them on a leash rather than them killing humans indiscriminately," Chalice sighed.

"Well humans ARE their idea of livestock what with a Youma's diet. It'd be counter productive to have the Undead killing us like crazy," Kensuke sighed. "For now, all we can do is hold the fort whenever it appears. Not ideal, but it's the best we got…"

* * *

"Nothing so far today…" Usagi sighed in mild relief. So far nothing had happened the previous night nor through the day, so she was taking that as a good thing. As it was, she was on her way home, having stopped by the arcade a bit for a quick game. However, right as she was passing through the gate, the mailman came by, called to her and gave her a letter. "What's this?"

"Congratulations on passing the first screening," the mailman said with a smile. "Hope the shoots go well. Anyway, I've still got more mail to deliver so I'll be seeing ya," he said and soon rode off, leaving Usagi to look...completely confused, especially when she saw the letter was apparently an acceptance letter to the first screening for some big photo shoot by Kijin Shinokawa. A big deal and definitely a great honor to any woman who'd been invited, only one teeny tiny problem. "But...I didn't apply for this," Usagi blinked.

"Hey sis, what's up?" Shingo said as he arrived a few seconds later.

"I just got an acceptance letter to something I didn't even sign up for." she said in confusion.

"Huh? Maybe it's a prank then," Shingo suggested. "I mean, why else would you win something you never signed up for."

"You're probably right," Usagi nodded, though for some reason she had a bad feeling about this.

* * *

"So basically you got an invitation to something you never even applied for?" Rei asked, sounding a little incredulous. Currently they were communicating via communicators in Usagi's room.

"That's basically how I felt yeah," Usagi nodded.

"It IS certainly very strange…" Ami frowned.

"And strange has been our normal lately," Kensuke sighed, before a went through them...and then they spoke at the same time.

"Dark Kingdom plot?"

"Well that settles it," Luna said in mild amusement. "Looks like we'll be keeping an eye on this event."

"Better safe than sorry, yeah," Kensuke agreed.

* * *

"Wow...there's a LOT of people," Usagi blinked. "Aren't these kinds of things supposed to have...less people already in?"

"They should yes," Ami nodded. "This reminds me a lot about that talent competition you told me about…"

"That's a good analogy," Luna frowned. "This makes it even more likely that this is a Dark Kingdom plot…"

As if to further drive in the oddity, Kijin soon came up to the stage and showed...way more energy than he had the other day. Not to mention he was quite...forceful...regarding requesting that everyone wait till their turn and that he didn't want to be disturbed at all.

"...Youma possession?" Usagi said flatly.

"Youma Possession," Ami and Luna nodded dryly.

"Right… think you can try to stop some of the other girls from reaching him while I try to think of a quick way to expose the Youma?" Usagi asked Ami.

"It should be simple enough." the bluenette nodded.

The two split up, with Usagi snooping around, and as it so happened, some people had already been called in for their shots, which was taking place at the pool. Usagi managed to find her way...just in time to see the shot being taken...and the women who were shot...were promptly sucked into the camera. "...the sad part is I'm not even surprised anymore…" Usagi groaned.

Seeing as Kijin was too focused on his now twisted idea of art, Usagi decided to sneak around the pool, managing to get behind him. Once she was close enough… "I think you need a new hobby!" she said, grabbing the camera, and in his surprise, he could do little as she yanked it out of his hands, and threw it into the pool. The moment she did...he was like a puppet with its strings cut, and fell to the ground.

"Good to know the Youma's influence stops the moment we get the object away," Luna mused.

"Yeah, but now we have to deal with the Youma itself," Usagi frowned, as true enough, an ominous light appeared, and out of the pool came a burst of energy which soon came together and formed the Youma possessing the camera.

The Youma ALMOST looked like a normal woman… were it not for the deathly pale skin she sported, and her shoulders jutting outwards strangely, wearing what looked like a black swimsuit underneath a strange purple half-leotard.

"I am Cameran, and you will pay for getting in my way!" the Youma declared, raising her hand, and an eye appearing on it, before shooting a beam at Usagi, who managed to evade...to which the beam hit a bench...and was sucked into the Youma.

"Oh boy…" Usagi gulped. Maybe she should have transformed first…

Fortunately, Luna had thought to inform Ami first, and as such…

"Shabon Spray!" came Mercury's voice, as the area was covered in a fog, allowing Usagi to get away from the Youma. Once she was a good distance away, she quickly transformed.

"Moon Prism Power, Make Up!"

"You won't get me!" Cameran growled, before firing her beam wildly, forcing them to dodge, as the random shots were actually making it harder to evade.

"Where are the others?!" Moon gasped.

"I called them earlier!" Mercury said. "They should be here soon!"

As if in response to that…

"Everyone, big trouble!" came Mars's voice as she came in through the door, already transformed. "The Moth is back!"

"Wait, now of all times?!" Moon asked in shock "Well where is it then?"

Mars winced "About that…" she trailed off, as suddenly a window in the room broke, and they looked up to see… the Moth Undead, with Blade and Chalice hanging onto its legs, trying to slash at it with their weapons.

"Come on you stupid thing just give up already!" Chalice said in annoyance, before Moth managed to kick them off finally and both he and Blade fell into the pool with a shout, both breaking the surface soon enough.

"That does it! I'm getting industrial strength bug spray for this thing!" Chalice growled.

"Would that even work?" Blade asked dryly.

"Don't know, don't care. Willing to try anything," Chalice said simply.

"At least we're where we need to be," Blade sighed, the two getting out of the pool. At the same time, the Moth landed near Kijin...and seemed interested in him. Of course…

"Back off, his energy is mine!" Cameran growled, shooting her beams at the Undead, but the attacks missed, all they did was draw its attention to her, causing it to growl and firing its powder at her, causing her to screech as it started to burn, forcing her to jump into the pool

"We should probably get that guy away from the monsters," Blade frowned.

"Not ideal, but I got something," Chalice frowned, before swiping one of his cards. " **Tornado!"**

Chalice pulled back, wind gathering before he let go and the gust of wind blew Kijin across the floor, away from the fighting monsters...but he put a bit too much force in that, seeing as it ended with Kijin...bumping his head against the wall on the other end. "...oops," Chalice sweat dropped.

"Could be worse. That'd only give him a light headache. Trust me, I know," Blade shrugged, the others giving him a dry stare, morbidly wondering how many times he'd probably have gotten hit in the head to know that. "Now...about those two...I vote we let them kill each other first then we go for the winner."

"When you talk like that suddenly I feel like we're the villains here," Mars sweat dropped.

"You win you live," both riders shrugged. The three Scouts and the Moon Cat had huge sweat drops at that.

Back with the Youma and the Undead...it was clear the Undead had the advantage, as literally nothing the Youma was doing had any real effect. Eventually she fired her beam at it again...only for the wings to flare up, and the beam was reflected back on to her, causing a paradox as she couldn't suck herself up, but the beam was still trying to anyway. She gasped, trying to get away, but the Undead wasn't having any of it as it grabbed hold of her...and sprayed a small storm of its powder onto her at point blank, all of it igniting, not hurting the Undead, but basically cooking Cameran alive. She screamed as she was on fire and soon vanished.

"Okay, we got a winner, now let's take him out!" Chalice said, Mercury readying another Shabon Spray, but before she could actually fire it...the Moth's wings flared out and it soon took to the sky again.

"...or it'll do that," Moon sweat dropped. Seems like the Moth had its fill of killing after it killed the Youma.

"...this is officially the weirdest fight we've been in," Blade said dryly.

"Mina is going to laugh her ass off about this I just know it." Chalice muttered to himself as he facepalmed.

"The Undead killed the Youma and then flew away because it was bored… yeah, I can see why." Moon said in deadpan. Needless to say they quickly made themselves scarce. They'd had...quite enough of this odd day.

* * *

It was another morning in the Tsukino Household. About a week or so had passed since the last incident, and Usagi was enjoying the peace...even if the fact they STILL hadn't managed to catch the Moth Undead was still weighing on all of them. Fortunately so far it seemed to have decided to lay low for a bit.

"Its so nice that you've stopped waking up late," Ikuko couldn't help but say.

"I don't like being late all the time, plus Kensuke told me having several alarms helps too," Usagi chuckled.

"He's certainly been a good influence on you," Kenji mused.

"Yeah, plus I'm working out you know." Usagi grinned as she held up an arm, jokingly flexing it a bit as she clasped her other hand on the bicep.

"He seriously sounds awesome the more you talk about him." Shingo commented idly as he ate his breakfast.

"Well, he's basically become my cool big brother, you know?" she shrugged.

"Maybe you should invite him over sometime, so we can thank him properly for helping you out so much." her mother suggested.

"I'll see if I can talk to him about that," Usagi mused...until she noticed the time. "Ack! We'd better hurry or we'll end up late anyway!" she gasped, getting her bag, as she and Shingo were soon out of the house.

* * *

Meanwhile, Kensuke was making use of the fact that today he didn't have any classes till noon. As such, he was going over the network that the clan had set up, hoping to find any signs of the Moth Undead. However, that wasn't the only thing worrying. Lately he'd been getting reactions from his pendant, but so far he couldn't tell where the Undead was, meaning it was laying low. Normally this would be bad enough, but even worse was the fact that the reaction...as well as the method...implied higher thinking. That meant a Royal. He'd checked with Chalice via communicator and found that he too was picking up something similar.

It was for that reason he'd drawn the curtains in his apartment...and made sure the wards were holding up. If he WAS being targeted by a Royal, he'd make damn sure it wouldn't be getting to him so easily. Speaking of which, he made a note to set up similar things around the girls' homes. The last thing he wanted was for them to get attacked in their own homes.

His musing however was cut short when he heard the sound of his mail slot, and looked to see a letter slotted in. Blinking, he went over to take a look and picked up the letter. "You are cordially invited…?" he read, before turning it around, his eyes widening when he saw the seal used. It was a red pheasant making the shape of a diamond, the seal of the Crimson Pheasant Tribe.

* * *

"I'm seriously surprised nothing happened today." Usagi said as she walked out of school with Naru and Ami.

"Tell me about it. Half the time you get an incident where people fell asleep, the other someone was acting weird, or just some new fad starting and people being swept up in it." Naru sighed in annoyance.

"It does get worrying how crazy things happen so much." Ami added with a worried frown as she thought back to the recent incidents.

"At least the Sailor Scouts and the Riders are helping keep things in order," Usagi said.

"I just hope they can find a way to make these stop," Naru sighed.

However, before any further conversation could happen, they were met with the sight of a pair of middle school girls. "Excuse me, are you Shingo's older sister?" one of them asked.

Usagi blinked in surprise "Uh, yeah, that's me. Something wrong? Did something happen to Shingo?" she asked in concern.

The girls shook their head, before they recounted what happened, about how Shingo's friend Mika won a contest with her porcelain doll and she offered it to him, until he made the doll drop to the ground and break.

Needless to say, Usagi was ticked off at her little brother "I don't know what went through him, but you can rest assured that I'll take care of this." she reassured the girls, who nodded gratefully.

* * *

Needless to say, Usagi had marched straight home after that, sparing her mother a greeting before she went up to her brother's room and threw the door open "Shingo!"

Her brother jumped in surprise as he fumbled a rolled up ball of paper in his hands before it fell to the ground next to a waste bin full of them "W-what is it?!" he asked as he caught his breath.

"I know about what happened at school." she told him simply.

Shingo swallowed nervously at that "Ah… so you heard…"

"I can understand a doll isn't really your thing, but you didn't have break it," Usagi scolded.

"I didn't mean to. I mean, I was actually happy to get it but then…" Shingo sighed, before explaining that he HAD meant to take it...but then his classmates started teasing him and even went so far as to ask stuff like when the wedding would be that he got cold feet and wanted to give the doll back...but ended up pushing it back in a way that caused it to fall to the ground and break. "I've been trying to work up the nerve to apologize but well…" he sighed before opening a ball of paper to show that it was an apology note/letter he'd been trying to write with...limited success.

"Well if you want my advice, I'd say you should forget about the apology letters and march right up to her house and apologize. I'm sure she'll listen to your side of the story after she gets the apology," Usagi said.

"Easy for you to say…" Shingo sighed.

"It's either this or our parents get involved," Usagi added, making Shingo gulp.

"Hey, look at the time, we've got just enough time for a quick trip!" he said quickly.

* * *

Getting to Mika's house was easy enough...though it did require her to make sure he didn't run off from cold feet. When they got to the house though, they were met by Mika's mother who told them that Mika was still crying and had locked herself in her room.

That did little to help Shingo's mood beyond him saying he'd come again tomorrow and dejectedly leaving.

It was on the way back that things took a… weird turn.

Usagi's foot kicked a small rock, which bounced along the road… until it bounced softly against the show of a guy squatting down with some others… all of them looking like typical delinquents… which even included the regent hairstyle.

"Oh you have got to be kidding." Usagi muttered as the punk took offense all because of the little rock, and she was very much ready to deck him and his idiot friends in the face… when a hand grabbed the top of his head from behind and squeezed.

"How about you punks make like a banana and split?" Kensuke sighed as he tugged on the delinquent's hairdo a bit, making the idiot panic about his hair getting messed up.

Of course, his friends tried to attack Kensuke for hurting their 'Boss'. However, Kensuke easily dodged the attacks, and when one of them came after him with a pipe...Kensuke easily disarmed him and stole the pipe. "Last chance. Leave," Kensuke said simply, but they...stupidly didn't listen. "Your mistake," he chuckled.

What followed was...a complete slaughter. These poor schmucks couldn't even so much as scratch Kensuke, while now that he was armed...they were getting smacked around, knocked over, and one poor guy even got tripped and ended up slamming into a hydrant where the sun doesn't shine. As such it wasn't 5 minutes before the dopes were running away...and a few of them were running funny as well.

"Well that's that. You okay, Usagi?" Kensuke asked.

"We're fine. Good thing you were nearby," Usagi chuckled.

"Uh...who's this?" Shingo blinked. Though he had to admit, that was awesome.

"Oh, right. Shingo, meet Kensuke. Kensuke, this is my little brother, Shingo." Usagi introduced the two.

"Nice to finally meet you kid, Usagi's told us a lot about you." Kensuke grinned.

"That was super cool! Where did you learn to do stuff like that?" Shingo asked in a bit of excitement.

"Let's just say it comes with training and a LOT of determination," Kensuke said with a light chuckle. "It helps too when you have things you want to protect."

"Wow! You sound like a real life superhero!" Shingo said, his eyes actually sparkling.

Kensuke chuckled. "Oh I'm not that impressive, but it works. Anyway, where you two headed? I figured I might as well make sure you get there safely just in case some people haven't learned their lesson."

Usagi sighed a bit "Actually, we were trying to make Shingo apologise to Mika for breaking her doll, but she locked herself into her room and didn't even tell her mom about what happened."

Shingo winced at the reminder, looking down "I… I goofed up."

"I'll say." Kensuke winced "What exactly happened?"

One explanation later…

"Yeah...you kinda messed that one up. Not the doll breaking mind you, even if that was bad, but well...other people can be jerks when they think something is funny. Your mistake there was not apologizing then and there," Kensuke frowned.

"I know…"Shingo sighed.

"Well, the fact you're trying to own up for it is a good start," Kensuke said. "As long as you make the effort and follow through, I'm sure she'll come around," he said encouragingly.

"Yeah, you're right. I'll make sure to apologize the next time I see her," Shingo nodded, while Usagi couldn't help but chuckle a little to herself. It seemed Kensuke really knew how to bring out the best in people.

* * *

The next day however...things didn't go as planned. First of all, Mika didn't show up at school. On top of that, when Shingo tried going to her house again, apparently she'd locked herself up in her room and has been working on dolls non-stop. Needless to say, Shingo was getting worried. VERY worried.

"There's got to be some way I can let her know how sorry I am…" he muttered to himself, before he blinked as a thought struck him, remembering when he was younger, when Usagi still had her random bouts of depression prior to getting medicated to keep them under control, dad would buy her small things that cheered her up.

"Getting her a present?... No, making her one!" he grinned "The thought is what's important after all, and the effort makes it better." he reasoned to himself, before racing out of his room "Mom! I need some clay!"

As it turned out, his idea was to make a clay sculpture as a present for Mika. The thought and effort was good...the results…

"And this is…?" Usagi blinked at the...odd...looking sculpture Shingo had made.

"It WAS supposed to be Sailor Moon but…" Shingo trailed off.

As it was, his sculpture looked like it was a toddler with blonde pigtails and an angry monobrow… still, it was better than it might have been had he been rushing more.

"Right… well you put your heart into it. That's what matters… though do I really look that angry?" she muttered that last part to herself.

"Huh?" Shingo looked at her in confusion, not having caught that last part.

"Nothing, nothing, let's just get this ready. You can go give it to her at the doll exhibit this weekend." she waved off his confusion.

"Good idea," Shingo nodded. "She'll definitely be there. Still...I wonder why she's working herself so hard..." he sighed.

"Maybe it's just...working off the stress?" Usagi guessed, but inwardly she wasn't so sure. After all...it sounded too much like the more recent Youma incidents going around. It would probably be a good time to tell the others.

* * *

"So you think Mika might be under the influence of a Youma. It WOULD make sense considering the strange shift in behavior," Rei frowned, as the group had met up the next day.

"The sudden shift in personality and the obsessive behavior...it definitely matches the profile of someone manipulated by a Youma. If that is the case, we should probably be at the location to try and stop it," Ami frowned.

"Definitely a good idea," Kensuke agreed. "Even if its a false alarm, it's better than finding out its real or not the easy way."

"It's still worrying albeit convenient that we'd be close to an incident when it happens," Luna frowned.

* * *

"So far nothing seems out of the ordinary," Kensuke mused as they were currently at the exhibition. "Though I have to admit, these dolls are pretty well made...though personally that's a negative in my books," he frowned.

"Really? But these dolls are adorable," Rei said as she looked around.

"Yeah...sorry, but the realistic looking dolls kinda creep me out. They look a bit too real for comfort honestly," he sighed.

"I have to agree with him there." Luna commented from a basket she was hiding in, being carried by Ami, looking at the dolls through a crack in it and with her eyes narrowed.

"Maybe we should get you both one then." Ami commented jokingly.

"No thanks." Kensuke and Luna said with a forced smiles.

Rei shook her head, before bringing up her communicator "You almost there Usagi?"

"Yeah, we're arriving just now, be ready for anything." Usagi whispered back to her.

Rei nodded "And Chalice, are you close by?"

"Close enough. Don't worry, if you need help I'll come running." the Rider answered.

"Right, let's do this then," Usagi said, before coming out of the bathroom she was in, Shingo waiting outside. Earlier they'd already got where Mika was busy at work making her dolls, so with that in mind, they soon went to the room, and opened the door.

"Mika, I wanted to say sorry about before. I got a gift too," Shingo said...right before he registered WHAT was going on in the room. Namely Mika working like a girl obsessed...and the obviously evil looking doll before her. No seriously, the thing had a painfully evil smirk on its face and was even radiating black energy.

"Look out! One of the monsters is possessing her!" Usagi shouted, pulling Shingo away. Good thing too as at that moment the doll radiated energy full blast, and as expected...from the energy a Youma emerged.

The Youma laughed as it materialised, before it stole Mika's energy.

"Mika!" Shingo shouted in worry as he tried to run at the monster only for Usagi to hold him back.

"You'll get hurt idiot!" she scolded him.

"But if I don't do something…!" he trailed off with a scared look on his face.

Usagi frowned, mulling everything over, before she sighed "Fine, no choice then. Guess it was bound to happen one day." she said, letting go of Shingo and walking in front of him "Don't tell mom and dad about what you're about to see, ok?"

"H-huh?" Shingo said in confusion, before…

"Moon Prism Power! Make up!"

To say Shingo was shocked would be an understatement, as after a sudden light show, the person standing in front of him was Sailor Moon… and after her face was hazy for a moment, it was clear to see that it was his older sister. "Sis…?" he whispered in shock.

"Don't worry, I'll save Mika." she reassured him, and Shingo found himself believing her.

With the lights and darkness finally gone, they could see the Youma clearly, revealing to be a mannequin-like Youma...who's most notable traits were the fact her body was broken into segments which seemed to float by themselves. Smirking, she closed her eyes...and suddenly the dolls that Mika made came flying towards her, but rather than just flying, they'd grown fangs and devilish looks, looking ready to chomp whoever got in their way to bits.

"Okay, change of plans, somewhere more open first!" Moon gasped, before grabbing Shingo (she had him under her arm cause this was no time to pull someone along), and running for it. "Out of the way! Monster coming! And killer dolls!" she shouted, as she ran through the exhibition, people blinking...before soon running when they saw the flying demonic dolls coming their way too, the crowd soon running out of the hall.

"Okay, we're out of the hall, what now?" Shingo asked.

"Buy some time. The others are here too, so they should be here soon. I may be the one to usually finish these, but its no good if we don't weaken them first," Moon said.

"You won't escape!" the Youma grinned...before…

"Shabon Spray!" the area was covered in mist that allowed Moon to evade and get some distance.

"Just in time," she sighed, right as Mercury and Mars arrived on the scene.

"Uh, why is…?" Mars trailed off when they reached her, looking down at Shingo.

"He knows. Had no choice but to transform in front of him." Moon explained quickly.

"Well I supposed the cat's out of the bag as they say." Luna said, making Shingo go bug eyed as he turned to her.

"Yeah...Luna can talk, always has been able to, and it's a REALLY long story…" Moon sweat dropped.

"Long PAIR of stories if you include Blade and Chalice's stories," Mars added.

"Got it, wait till later to have my mind blown," Shingo nodded flatly.

"So first things first…" Moon started...right before more of the killer dolls showed up. "Someone deal with THOSE things first!"

Right on cue, they were shot down with arrows, to which they turned and saw Chalice on one of the trees, having sniped them down from his position. "Leave the flying enemies to me. Just focus on the main monster!" he said, earning nods from the three of them.

"And you come here and hide." Luna told Shingo, the boy nodding as he followed her to the tree that Chalice stood on, out of the way of the battle.

The first thing that came through the mist were literally body parts, which the girls managed to evade...before a pair of hands flew and caught Moon by the neck, lifting her up, causing her to struggle.

"Let her go!" Mars growled as the Youma came into view. "Fire Soul!" she called out, shooting the fireball, hitting the Youma dead on...to which she simply crumpled and soon pulled herself back together. "What?!" she gasped.

"Hands off my friends you sale reject!" came a growl, before a blast of electricity hit the Youma, causing her to jolt around, but soon pulled herself back together, looking no worse for wear, while the attacker revealed to be Blade, his hand still sparking a bit after throwing the thunder ball. "This one's made from sterner stuff than the usual variety," he frowned.

"Your attacks are all useless!" the Youma laughed before sending her body parts flying again, aiming for them to which they mainly evaded, seeing as the body parts could somehow cut like knives.

"Not gonna be getting anywhere if we don't find a weak point!" Chalice growled, shooting down as many parts as he could only for them to keep regenerating, and he couldn't even try to get to Moon seeing as each time he aimed for a pot shot, the hands made sure she was in the way.

"I'll try to find a weakness!" Mercury nodded, using her visor to scan the Youma, and found that its energy was focused on its right foot.

"On it!" Chalice nodded, aiming for the foot...only for the body parts to start messing up his aim, and to make matters worse, Moon was starting to look a bit blue. Thankfully help arrived, in the form of a rose that flew through the air and nailed the Youma in the forehead. The Youma gasped, before the hands vanished from Moon's neck, causing her to drop to the ground gasping for breath, while the Youma recoiled.

"Oh thank god I was getting scared there." Blade sighed in relief, before nodding to Tuxedo Kamen "Perfect timing!"

"I try my best." was his short answer as he smiled.

"Sailor Moon! Now!" Chalice shouted as he scanned two cards in his rouzer " **Bullet! Tornado!"** and fired multiple arrows that spiralled like miniature tornados.

"Right!" Moon nodded as she grabbed her Tiara, turning it into its boomerang form before throwing it into Chalice's attack, the two combining together as her Tiara was wrapped in the powerful winds and glowed green, moving even faster "Hurricane Boomerang!" she called out with a grin as the attack struck the Youma, trapping it in a powerful tornado that cut it all over, including its weak point.

The Youma let out a shout as she was reduced to dust and sent flying to the winds.

"There, that should fix everything," Luna said with a nod.

"So Mika should be okay now?" Shingo asked.

"Yes, she should be back to normal." Luna confirmed, making him sigh in relief.

* * *

Not long after, Shingo had gotten back into the hall, and found Mika, having woken up. Finally managing to apologize to her, he gave her the sculpture he'd made much to her delight, and as her way of thanking him, and accepting his apology… she kissed him on the cheek.

"Uh… ah… fe… oh…" Shingo fumbled for his words… and didn't notice his sister and the others all watching from the door frame, peaking around it and grinning at each other at how things were turning out.

The next day Mika even gave Shingo another present "Here, I know you like both Sailor Moon and Kamen Rider Blade, but since we wouldn't want anyone to tease you…" she trailed off playfully, making him blush at the reminder of the other day "I made you this." she said with a smile as she put a small figure of Kamen Rider Blade posing with his sword pointed at the sky on his desk.

"Woah! That's so cool!" he said, picking up the figure and looking at it more closely, before smiling at her "Thanks a lot Mika, this is awesome!"

She giggled at his words "I'm glad you like it Shingo."

* * *

 **Tada!**

 **That's right, first an Undead that escapes, then a mention of a certain love obsessed blonde, and the big one, Shingo finding out his sister is Sailor Moon!**

 **Don't worry, this won't just be tossed aside, we'll touch on it more next time.**

 **See you all then!**


	12. Card 12

**Here's another chapter already people. This one is important as hell though, you'll see why soon enough.**

 **Let's go!**

* * *

"Alright, looks like we're all here, save for Chalice, but he said he couldn't be here today." Kensuke said as he and the others sat around the table at his apartment.

The others all noticed how his apartment was really quite clean… and also spacious enough that a family could live there comfortably.

Though from what they heard Kensuke talk about his goals outside of hero business, that made sense.

"This is a pretty nice place you got to yourself," Shingo who was with them couldn't help but say.

"Let's just say with my family, we've got quite a bit stored away," Kensuke chuckled. "Besides, this is both for the future and for now, in case any other Tribe Members need a place to crash for a bit," he shrugged. "Anyway, let's get you up to speed now that you're in the know."

The group then gave him a quick explanation of what was going on, including the backstory and some important points they could think of. Suffice to say...Shingo had a LOT to digest.

"Wait, so, we're here because of some monsters fighting and then the one that represented humans won? And then there was this kingdom some time later and there was a princess on the moon and now you have to find her because she reincarnated? Is there any other crazy stuff?" Shingo asked "And I mean outside of the fact Luna can talk because that was already pretty weird."

Usagi hummed "Well… there's actual people behind the monsters and people feeling weak. Mika's been hit twice so far, and Naru's been hit quite a few times herself."

Shingo blinked at that "Right… I want to punch something honestly. Nobody hurts Mika." he muttered the last part, making the others smile knowingly.

"We also need to track down the Undead and help Kensuke and Chalice seal them back up before they can try to claim Earth for themselves." Ami added.

"Right, creepy unkillable monsters that need to be sealed in playing cards of all things… what next, actual aliens?" he sighed.

"Actually, Luna IS an alien, from the planet Mau." Kensuke said with a grin.

"And apparently the Sailor Scouts are reincarnations from the past as well, so this is mine, Ami and Usagi's second life." Rei added with a teasing grin.

Shingo blinked at that, before groaning into his hands. "Me and my big mouth."

"You'd be surprised how often people regret tempting fate," Luna said with an amused sweat drop. "At any rate, needless to say all this is supposed to be kept secret at least for now. If this news were to get leaked too soon, well...that would be very bad if not only the people panic, but our enemies might even employ more... drastic... tactics in response."

"Yeah... I can see how that would happen," Shingo sighed. He'd read enough comics to know how this goes. "So... what's the plan now?"

"For now, beyond Sealing Undead and stopping Youma, we'll focus on finding the Princess first," Luna sighed.

"About that... my parents told me they'd contacted the scholars, and archivists... and they think they've found a clue that might help us there," Kensuke spoke up.

"They do? What is it?" Ami asked, everyone giving him their attention.

"They sent what they found over. Its an old book so be careful," he said, before going over to the couch in the living room, pulling the covers aside...and revealing there was a safe hidden inside of the couch.

"Really? You have a safe in the couch?" Usagi asked.

"I have multiple safes in the apartment actually, in fact Rei is sitting on a secret folder compartment." Kensuke said as he carefully turned the dial, while Rei stood up and looked at her chair before lifting up the seat to see a small door with a number pad on it.

"What's in there?" the ravenette asked with a raised eyebrow.

"That one's just where I store my bank account stuff." Kensuke waved off any high expectations.

"Still pretty important if you ask me," Usagi blinked.

"True," Kensuke chuckled, before opening the safe and taking out an old looking book. "Here we are, some of the records we'd gathered together regarding the Silver Millenium," he said as he placed it on the table and carefully opened it. Turning the pages a bit, he eventually stopped at one section. "Here we are, Queen Serenity IV, the last queen of the Silver Millenium, Luna talked about her last time," he said. "No pictures available, but what we want is right here," he said pointing to a section of the text. "The Legendary Silver Crystal. In most kingdoms Crown Jewels are just symbols, but in this kingdom...that there was their most powerful magic item," Kensuke said, hiding his thoughts about the crystal, the very same that Tuxedo Kamen felt would give him answers as to who he was.

"What does this have to do with the princess?" Rei asked.

"Well... the Silver Crystal is apparently closely tied to the royal family, and each heir is bestowed with the Crystal when they come of age...and it just so happened if the records are right, the last Princess was of that age," he said.

"... I don't really get it," Shingo blinked.

"The Crystal is basically bonded in some limited sense to its owner. If we can't find the Princess, maybe we can find the Crystal. Find it, and it might just be a clue to finding the Princess," Kensuke explained dryly.

"Or even the Princess herself." Ami summed up "She might have it in her possession if she's aware of who she is."

"That too," Kensuke nodded. "The only problem is... the Crystal basically vanished after the Silver Millenium's fall according to these records and despite efforts of various people through the years, REMAINS missing. So for all I know it's been appearing throughout history in the guise of various mysterious gems, or its just plan been hidden somewhere or with someone who has somehow evaded all notice," he sighed. "So yeah... needle in an ocean sized haystack."

"That's... somewhat helpful I guess…" Luna sighed. "Now that I think about it though... I think something was done to keep the Crystal out of harm's way, but... I can't remember what it was…" she frowned, face scrunching up a little. "Though... seeing as the Crystal is tied to the Princess and she was sent to the future... it's likely as we think, the Crystal will either lead us to her, or will be in her possession."

"Well then I guess we've got another clue then," Usagi mused. "Hopefully Luna can remember whatever it is that was done to the Crystal."

"Maybe they did something like seal it behind a bunch of magic barriers, or maybe they broke it into several pieces. I mean, it IS magic, right?" Shingo said, using some video game logic.

"Well... it IS plausible... then again just about anything is plausible. For all we know someone decided to chuck it into the belly of some sleeping monster and we're gonna have to get it out of there... oh god I HOPE that's not what they did with it," Kensuke gulped at the end.

"Let's... worry about that another time," Ami suggested, to which they all nodded in agreement.

"At any rate, we'll have to keep our guard up. There's really not telling where and when the next attack might happen," Rei said, earning a few nods in agreement from the others.

* * *

Several days later and so far things had gone about more or less normally. That came to a stop during one particular day when Usagi was on her way home, and found a love letter in the mailbox addressed to her. "What's this?" she blinked, before turning the letter around... and blinking owlishly when the sender was apparently Tuxedo Kamen. "...what?"

* * *

"I don't think I need to explain why this is suspicious, right?" Luna said flatly.

"Randomly getting a letter from Tuxedo Kamen for no reason? Yeah, I can see that," Usagi sighed. "As much as I'd like to believe this, there's too many problems like HOW would he know to send it to me, and the wording... this sounds like one of those creepy letters you hear about…" she sighed. "...think this could be another plot?"

"If it is, then it's possibly a trap set to catch Sailor Moon or someone else among the Scouts," Luna frowned.

"Then we definitely need to warn the others in case they got one," Usagi said, quickly pulling out her communicator.

* * *

The next day…

"Wow… everybody got one huh?" Usagi asked as all her female classmates had received a letter.

"Yeah, it's a bit sad that it probably means it's a hoax of some kind." Naru said with a sad sigh "I almost wish it was real you know?"

"Let's just hope nobody takes this for real. We've had quite enough incidents as is," Usagi sighed. A point that was helped when Miss Haruna came in and told everyone that this kind of mail was either a prank or some kind of malicious trick, so they were not to listen to it... though the slightly annoyed expression she had clearly implied she was also salty because she didn't get one.

"Well, at least everyone is trying to help avoid incidents," Usagi chuckled.

"Hm...I'll need to stop by the location later," Naru frowned. "Mom needs me to do an errand."

"You sure it can't wait?" Usagi asked.

"Don't worry, I'll be sure to go at an earlier time," Naru said.

"Just be careful," Usagi sighed.

* * *

It wasn't long before school ended, and the girls parted ways to go home. Along the way, Usagi decided to stop by the arcade today. As she walked in, she overheard Motoki talking with Mamoru about something while the latter was playing the crane game. "Did you hear about the mass love letters girls have been getting today? You'd think it was some desperate guy, but all of them are listed as being from someone called 'Tuxedo Kamen'," Motoki said.

"Tuxedo Kamen? If this isn't a painfully obvious scam, I don't know what is," Mamoru snorted. "And what's with that kind of a name? Sounds like a creep," he mused, not hearing Kensuke snort in the background as he was working on a cabinet nearby.

"I thought the same too especially after every girl in my class got the same letter," Usagi spoke up as she came towards them.

"Glad to know you didn't fall for it," Mamoru snorted. "Anyone who'd fall for something as obvious as this probably deserves whatever happens if they fell for it in the first place."

"You'd be surprised how dumb some people can be," Kensuke said. "Trust me, I've met a few of those types. It boggles the mind how they've survived for so long."

"Besides, if anyone is looking for a girl, they'd do better meeting them face to face. I think its the only way you can respect a lady," Mamoru said.

"Does that include me?" Usagi asked half jokingly.

"Depends, but I'd say yes," Mamoru said with a light chuckle.

* * *

A few hours later found Naru at the department store, shopping for a few things for her mother, sighing wistfully as she looked around 'It's too bad that letter is a hoax. I'd almost hoped it was real when I saw it yesterday. It would have been pretty romantic.' she thought sadly.

As she was walking through the store, she noticed a familiar figure. "Mr. Sanjoin?" she blinked, before realizing that yes it was him. "Mr. Sanjoin!" she called, getting his attention, the man turning to her in surprise. "It's me, we met when you were at the tennis match. I'm a member of Juban Junior High's Tennis Club, Naru Osaka."

"Ah, I remember now. Are you out shopping?" Masato said as he came closer.

"Yes," Naru nodded. "Um... would you mind if I asked a question?"

"Oh? What is it?" Masato asked.

"You... wouldn't happen to be Tuxedo Kamen, would you?" Naru asked.

Masato was visibly surprised at that. "What? Why do you ask?"

Naru blushed a bit. "Oh, its nothing. I was just wishing you were," she said. "Just something that crossed my mind."

Naru seemed to be lost in thought for a moment, before shaking her head. "Sorry for asking you a weird question. Please forget it," she said.

"Naru," Masato spoke, seemingly interested in her now.

"Yes?"

"You're the cutest girl in Juban Junior High," Masato said, much to Naru's pleased surprise. "I've been interested in you for some time now. I'll meet you tonight," he said as he turned and left.

"Tonight? By tonight, does he mean…?" Naru gasped, taking out the letter she'd received. Looking through it she noticed some of the wording, eyes widening. "It IS him!" she gasped. Before she knew it, she was soon at the rooftop, looking at the sunset and holding the letter close, the image of his handsome face in her mind as she blushed brightly. There was no doubt in her mind that she was falling in love with Masato Sanjoin.

* * *

"It's almost time," Usagi mused. Earlier she'd contacted the others. Rei had come down with a cold and fever, so Ami was staying by her side for now. Kensuke said he'd stick around the location just in case anyone would fall for this trap. In short, they'd be on standby, with Kensuke ready to alert them in case he noticed anything.

"I hope for once nobody is caught up in this trap," Luna sighed.

"That makes several of us," Usagi sighed. However, right as she said that, the communicator started beeping before going silent. "Of course…" she sighed, getting up and opening the window. "Time for another night out. Moon Prism Power, Make Up!"

She was soon out the window and roof hopping towards the location. "Honestly, the only good thing about them doing this at night, at least I don't have to worry about Mom and Dad coming into my room while I'm gone," Moon sighed... even though she had still locked her door just to be safe. She soon found Blade, standing on a nearby building, eyes trained on the location that had been set up.

"I told Chalice about this, and he said he should be able to make it, though he'd be running a bit late since he was on the other side of the ward." Blade said, earning a nod from her, glad to know another ally wouldn't be far behind.

"Who went in?" Moon asked.

"Believe it or not... I saw Naru in there," Blade frowned.

"That can't be right... Naru said she would avoid this place during this time," Moon gasped.

"Well something got her to reconsider, and looks like we'll have to stop whatever it is," Blade said, the two nodding and soon entering the building.

* * *

"Mr. Sanjoin? Where are you?" Naru called out as she searched the dark room, before the lights came down and a figure wearing a tuxedo and a mask was coming down the escalator.

"Welcome," the figure said, in a voice she'd recognize anywhere.

"That voice... so you ARE Mr. Masato Sanjoin!" Naru said excitedly.

The man actually gasped in surprise "You can tell who I am by my voice alone?"

"Of course! Your voice and the way you carry yourself... you are none other than Mr. Masato Sanjoin!"

"Do you really love Masato Sanjoin that much?" he asked, honestly shocked.

Shyly, the girl nodded "I thought it was just a crush at first, but, ever since you said those words to me earlier this afternoon, I've become sure, I love you!" she declared.

"That pleases me to hear," Masato said as he reached the bottom... and placed a finger on Naru's forehead, causing her eyes to suddenly go unfocused. "Now, reveal yourself to me, Sailor Moon!" he declared. Energy began to flow from her, yet she didn't transform. However, that was when he noticed the oddity. First of all, the amount was great, furthermore, he sensed SOMETHING in the energy, and most damning of all, the energy seemed to shift in color, turning pink momentarily before turning back to normal. "Is this girl not Sailor Moon?" he frowned. "But still... this energy…"

He didn't get far before he sensed a certain energy, and had to let go of the girl, causing her to crumple to the ground. Good thing too, as right when he jumped away, a familiar golden disk flew right through where he had been a moment ago and soon returned to its owner, revealing Sailor Moon and Kamen Rider Blade standing at the doorway.

"Ok faker, you just stepped on a minefield, hope you're ready for the explosion." Blade said as he held up his sword.

"Oh? And what do you plan to do?" Nephrite asked as his disguise vanished from him, no point in keeping it after all.

"Me? I'm just support, SHE'S the one you should worry about." Blade said as he gestured towards Sailor Moon, and Nephrite's eyebrows rose at how absolutely LIVID she looked.

"What is with you people and going after my friend?!" Moon growled, readying another Moon Tiara Action, which she threw, aiming right for his head, but instead of hitting… it went right through his head as he'd suddenly turned transparent.

"So this girl IS connected to you. Interesting," he mused. "Oh that reminds me. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Nephrite, one of the Four Generals of the Dark Kingdom. Though this plan didn't work out the way I intended, it's still salvageable now that you're here," he said, before he split into several copies. "O Regulus, star of Leo, shining in the Southern Night Sky, grant me your power!" they all declared, before they soon positioned themselves in a formation and soon turned into stars that formed the constellation of Leo.

"Wonder what he's going to throw at us," Blade mused... right as the lights formed a lion which manifested before them. "...okay, that's honestly decently impressive."

The lion roared and charged at them... only to be met with a boot in the face, followed by a sword through the temple, causing it to vanish.

"After everything you've thrown at us, it's going to take a LOT more than a lion to scare us!" Moon growled.

"If that's the case, very well," Nephrite frowned, splitting and intoning again... something that suddenly made Moon regret her words, seeing as the constellation he'd just picked was... Draco.

"Oh boy…" Blade gulped as they were now face to face with a DRAGON.

And then said dragon roared and lunged right at them, with Blade dodging to the side, while Moon jumped back in fright.

The dragon tried to snap at them, but was stopped when something flew and hit it right in the eye, causing it to rear back in pain.

"Glad to see you made it." Blade sighed as he looked up to see Tuxedo Kamen on the railing of the second floor.

"I always go where I'm needed." he shot back with a smile.

"So cool!" Moon couldn't help but cheer.

"So, you finally show up." Nephrite chuckled "Too bad it won't actually change much."

"Moon Tiara Action!" Moon called out, hitting the dragon right in the forehead, pushing it back, but it was still in one piece. "I was REALLY hoping that would have done more," she gulped.

"Quick, into the elevator!" Tuxedo Kamen said urgently.

"You two get in! I'll hold it off!" Blade said, getting between them and the dragon.

Right as the two got in the elevator however, the dragon seemed to disappear, as the doors shut on their own, Nephrite laughing as he watched "Fools, you've fallen right into my trap."

"Strange choice for a trap, but dare I ask?" Moon frowned... right as the elevator started rising.

"It's very simple. When you reach the top floor, you'll be entrusted to the laws of gravity, and crash into the ground!" Nephrite laughed.

"We'd better get out of here BEFORE we actually reach the top then," Tuxedo Kamen frowned, before he quickly used his cane to break open the hatch on top of the elevator to allow them to climb out.

Back on the first floor however…

"Don't think I'll let you get away with this!" Blade said as he dashed at Nephrite to slash him, only for the general to move out of the way.

"You don't have any other choice but to accept it. Soon Sailor Moon will be dead, as will that Tuxedo Kamen." he smirked.

"Nah, they'll be fine. Jadeite tried to sick a plane on them and they were fine. I don't think an elevator is gonna work," Blade deadpanned. "Besides, I'm sure the elevator won't fall if I stick this through your chest!" he added, charging forward, but Nephrite was pretty fast, making it easier said than done.

"Don't think I'll fall as easily as that fool Jadeite!" Nephrite smirked.

"You sure about that?" Blade smirked... right before Nephrite felt something shoot him in the back, causing him to gasp and stumble forward, right into the way of Blade's armored fist, which socked him right in the face.

 **(Play Take it a Try)**

"Thanks for keeping his attention." Chalice said as he held his weapon up.

"Well you got here just in time." Blade shot back with a smirk.

Nephrite groaned as he righted himself in the air, hand on his jaw where he had been punched, a wound on his back which he could feel was already healing "I don't have time to waste on you two. I have more important things to do." he said "Now!" he shouted, confusing the two riders, before they felt something speed past them and slash at them, producing sparks on their armors, while Nephrite took the chance to escape.

"What just…?" Blade groaned as he looked around, before spotting what hit them. A being covered in yellow fur with several black spots, leather pants on his legs and steel armor on his chest, a large set of claws on his left hand with a feline face that was snarling at them "Mach Jaguar, Category 9… Hope you're ready Chalice." Blade said seriously.

"I beat Category 10 with some help already… but this one should be just as challenging yes." Chalice said with a frown behind his mask as he held his weapon at the ready.

The Jaguar Undead growled, and dashed towards them, its movements a blur, but they barely managed to avoid the attack. Chalice moved and tried to shoot it down, but the faster movements were not making it easy. At the same time it went after Blade who barely managed to defend against it.

"We're not gonna make much progress if we fight to its pace," Blade growled.

"We'll have to finish this fast. Think you can get it into position for a bit of a double hit?" Chalice suggested.

"Point me where and I know what to do," Blade smirked.

"I'll need to borrow a Punch attribute card. You have one, right?" Chalice said, to which Blade tossed him Screw Mole without argument. "I'll send it flying, you get it while its vulnerable," Chalice said, before tossing Blade the Time Scarab card.

The Jaguar soon charged towards them again, but this time they were ready. " **Screw! Tornado!"** Chalice's Rouzer intoned as the cards were scanned, the wind gathering around his arm. "Twister Fist!" Chalice called out, punching forward, sending a blast of wind which caught the Undead and sent it spinning back, but as it was in Mid-air, Blade readied his own cards and scanned them.

" **Slash! Thunder! Time!"**

"Thunder Moment!" Blade called out as he seemingly vanished from view, time slowing as he dashed forward and slashed at the Undead in a single Iaido strike, sheathing his sword immediately after that single strike, and then time resumed.

The Jaguar Undead gasped as blood flew from its sudden wounds, before it fell over and a small explosion happened, leaving it on the ground, belt cracked open. "Back in the card you go," Blade said, tossing a Proper Blank and sealing Mach Jaguar away. At the same time he noticed Time Scarab glowing blue. "Guess you're finally interested in sticking with me then, huh?" he said with wry amusement.

 **(Theme end)**

"Well that's that," Chalice sighed. "And once again, they run away while their lackeys do all the work."

"Forget about him for now. We sealed Mach Jaguar and that means we have a shot at Reflect Moth." Blade said as he picked up Naru in his arms "Come on, let's get to the top floor, maybe Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Kamen are alright."

With that the two made their way up the building (through the stairs because the power was out again), and soon reached the roof. There on the roof they found Tuxedo Kamen and Sailor Moon weren't there. At that both Riders looked at each other. "You don't think…?" Chalice gulped.

"I think we'd better hurry," Blade nodded, before quickly putting Naru down nearby, and getting to the Elevator Shaft. Quickly prying the door open, they were just in time to see Tuxedo Kamen look like he was about to lose his grip, same with Moon, both of them clearly struggling to climb up the shaft, to which Chalice and Blade managed to grab onto both of them, pulling them up. "That was...too close," Blade sighed.

"You have NO idea." Moon panted as she was lying on the roof. "I felt like my heart was trying to jump out of my chest way too many times."

Though she couldn't see it, she certainly felt the knowing look being thrown her way by Blade.

"Well, all's well ends well I guess," Chalice shrugged. "...though we should probably get the girl to a hospital."

"What I'm more worried about is why she was here in the first place? Didn't she say she wouldn't be here? What caused her to change her mind even after all the things going on lately?" Blade frowned.

"Something you'll all get a chance to ask her after she wakes up," Tuxedo Kamen said... having gotten onto a nearby railing while they were talking. "Until next time, farewell!" he declared and soon jumped off of the roof and vanished again.

"Always a theatrical exit with him," Blade couldn't help but chuckle in amusement.

"I still think its cool," Moon couldn't help but say with a laugh.

* * *

An hour or so later had Kensuke and Usagi manage to rush Naru to the hospital, the doctors assuring them everything would be okay as sadly by now they'd had...plenty of experience dealing with these cases. With the assurance... and the fact it was getting late, the two soon went home, leaving the hospital. The doctors did the usual checkup, and examination, sending the results to the labs... and to an additional location.

"Another case happened, and right under our noses again. This can't continue!" a voice said with a growl.

"The problem is to begin with we're unable to find these monsters, and even if we do, there's no guarantee we'll be able to deal with them," another voice said.

"Then there's no doubt about it. We need to focus on the new project immediately!" a third voice said.

"The samples we've been able to obtain from the remains found in the airport have already been analyzed, and the designs are being drawn out. We'll need to get more data to properly formulate the power required, I believe our best bet is to base the design off of the… Kamen Riders, as some of these Vigilantes seem to call themselves," another voice, this one female, said.

They couldn't let those monsters run rampant any longer.

* * *

A month passed after that incident. During the time a couple more incidents had taken place.

One of those incidents had been rather… strange, since there wasn't a single trace of the Dark Kingdom, all that had happened was that they encountered a rather powerful psychic girl while on a training trip to a nearby beach.

The second incident had led them to fight what had apparently been Nephrite's strongest Youma, twin monsters called Castor and Pollux, whom had been possessing a pencil used by an anime artist for the new Sailor V anime… which Kensuke had been sure was rights infringement. As for the Youma… they were powerful yes… but their teamwork was almost non existent, which led to their destruction after combining Mercury's Shabon Spray, Mars' Fire Soul, his Thunder, and Chalice's Tornado into Moon's Tiara.

All in all it was an eventful month, and while it probably wouldn't mean much, he hoped that with them beating Nephrite's 'strongest' follower, he'd lay off for a bit...or they'd end up moving on to the next General. Seriously, it was in the name, there were 4 of them and Nephrite was number 2, next would be number 3. Either way, it was the waiting game again for now. Not to mention they had...other things to worry about...namely the fact that while they STILL hadn't found Reflect Moth, it had clearly been… busy…

* * *

Usagi was running as for once she was cutting it a bit close (she'd had one of those annoying dreams that made her think she was awake when in reality she was still asleep), though fortunately she had enough time to make it if she hurried. As she did though, she noticed that traffic was rather heavy today, and as she went further, she saw why. "A Checkpoint? Is something important happening?" she blinked.

As she stopped to take a look, she noticed Naru walking by, looking a bit down. "Naru? Is something wrong?"

"Oh, Usagi…" Naru sighed, but continued walking. "Its... nothing," she said.

Usagi frowned, but chose not to press on the issue. "So... guess there must be something important going on, huh?" she said, hoping to change the subject a bit.

Naru looked up at the road, nodding "Yeah… the Diamond Kingdom is visiting Japan and apparently throwing some big gala. Their princess is going to show off some sort of big priceless jewel."

Usagi blinked at that "Wow… where's the Diamond Kingdom though?" she asked after a moment with an embarassed laugh.

Naru looked at her and her lips twitched upwards a bit "Somewhere down in South Africa apparently. Mom got an invitation to go see the gala, but she's sick so she's having me go in her place so I can get a picture of the jewel."

"You're so lucky Naru. I wish I could go." Usagi sighed at that, picturing herself going to a ball and dancing… with Tuxedo Kamen of course.

"I'll tell you about it after I get back," Naru said with a weak smile as they continued on to school.

* * *

"Hey, did you hear? They're unveiling the legendary treasure of the Diamond Kingdom at the gala," Umino said.

"Legendary treasure? Wow, I bet its that jewel Naru told me about," Usagi said.

"That makes sense, the Diamond Kingdom is the world's biggest producer of diamonds," Umino nodded.

"Aww... now I really want to go," Usagi sighed.

"Well, I guess it can't be helped. They don't let just anyone in," Umino chuckled lightly.

* * *

Class went by normally, but after school, Luna gave her a call asking her to meet up at the Hikawa Shrine. "Guess Luna must have found something," Usagi mused as she went towards the shrine. When she arrived, she saw that Ami and Rei were already there, and slightly more surprising was Shingo, whom she found out later had run into Luna along the way and chosen to come along.

"Ah good, you're here," Luna nodded. "Kensuke said he'd be a bit late, since he needs to take care of something, but he said we could start sooner," she said.

"So... what did you find?" Usagi asked.

"I think I might have found a possible lead on the Princess," Luna said.

"What is it?" Ami asked seriously.

"I think that she MAY be the Princess of the Diamond Kingdom. And whatever the mysterious treasure is could be some sort of relic of our kingdom." Luna said seriously.

"Naru actually told me the treasure was some kind of jewel, she's going there to get some pictures for her mom." Usagi added.

"Dad said he got invited thanks to the journal he works for, they want some pictures of the place apparently, and an interview with the princess if possible." Shingo added, remembering his father mentioning that this morning before he left for work, though he soon frowned. "But... you sure she might be the Princess? I mean... isn't hiding a reborn Princess behind a real Princess kinda... redundant and obvious?"

"Well... maybe that's the entire point?" Luna mused. "Because it's too obvious people would overlook it?"

Before anyone could agree or refute that though…

"I HIGHLY doubt its Princess Dia," came Kensuke's voice as he came up. "If it were, we'd have known about it ages ago."

"How can you be so sure?" Rei blinked.

"Because... simply put, there is no way our Clan WOULDN'T have noticed one of our own being the reborn Princess of the Moon," Kensuke sighed. "After all... the Diamond Kingdom? That's the public face of the Red Pheasant Tribe."

They all stared at him with wide eyes and dropped jaws, and Kensuke wished he had a camera for the half poleaxed and half bemused look on Luna's face.

"W-wait a second, public name? Do the other tribes do this?" Rei asked after a moment of getting over her shock.

"Of course we do. We can't exactly advertise ourselves for what we really are," Kensuke shrugged.

"Then... does that mean every Tribe is tied to a government or leadership of some kind?" Ami blinked.

"Well... yeah, in a sense. Nothing to the point of controlling any major countries, but enough so we can get information, even sensitive stuff easily enough," Kensuke admitted.

"What about Japan then?" Usagi couldn't help but ask.

"Ah... that... that would be…" Kensuke trailed off as he muttered something.

"Sorry, we didn't quite catch that."

"...the Imperial House," Kensuke said, now more audible.

At this point, it looked like their eyes were on the verge of popping out of their sockets "W-wait… does that mean you're related to the EMPEROR?!" Shingo asked in shock.

Kensuke sighed "Yeah, Emperor Heisei is a distant relative of mine."

"What about the other two Tribes?" Usagi couldn't help but ask.

"Fortunately those two aren't as big relatively speaking. The Black Tortoise works with the German government, and no, they were not among those who approved of or supported THAT. As for the White Tiger... they're more tied to the government rather than say having members in the presidency. THAT much is still very much democracy," Kensuke mused.

The others were certainly relieved those last two weren't bombshells, letting out sighs at that.

"Anyway, we should probably go check out the party anyway, just to make sure everything goes off correctly. Who knows what the Dark Kingdom might pull after all?" he said with a sigh.

"How will we do that though? It's likely invitation only." Luna frowned.

In response, Kensuke held up… a formal invitation to the party, marked with the seal of the Diamond Kingdom, shaped like a pheasant in a diamond shape. "There are certain perks of being part of the Clan," he couldn't help but say with an amused chuckle.

"You got invited?" Rei asked in slight surprise.

"Yeahp, and I have a 'plus how many I want' with it. Basically I bring on as many people as I want with me." he said with a shrug, grinning a bit.

"Well... that makes it easier," Luna blinked.

* * *

Night soon came, the girls all ready in their respective dresses, all of them having used the Disguise Pen to make them something more fitting for the occasion. Usagi's own dress was white and had several roses attached to it, a parasol in hand, and some makeup on her face, which actually gave her a slightly more mature look. Ami was dressed in a similar dress, but colored blue, with several snowflakes acting as decorations on it, complete with some makeup to help finish the look of an intelligent mature woman. Rei was also dressed in a similar dress, colored red with several rubies attached to it, her hair done up in a bun on top of the makeup applied to her face. All in all the three of them looked ready for the Gala... just as soon as Kensuke arrived with the invitation.

It wasn't long before he arrived, dressed in a Tuxedo for the night, with the special addition being a brooch he'd pinned on the tuxedo which depicted a blue spade with a beetle inside, his 'identification' for those in the know. "Sorry I'm late. Had to make sure everything was in order," he said as he walked up to them.

"No problem. We weren't here for long," Rei waved off.

"Right… do any of you have Luna with you or…?" he asked, looking at the girls with a raised eyebrow.

Usagi lifted her dress up just a few inches, letting him see Luna poke her head out before darting back underneath, making him chuckle.

"Smart. Anybody who would even TRY to look under there would get thrown out faster than a dog at a butcher." he said, before he went towards the entrance, the girls sticking close to him.

"Invitations?" the man checking the names asked as they reached the table set up, with Kensuke flashing the brooch on his tuxedo, the man's eyes widening a moment, before he nodded "Please go on in sir. I trust these young ladies are with you?"

"Yes, their friends of mine." he said with a nod, the man accepting that as he let them all pass.

Though, had they waited, they might have noticed the couple arriving shortly after them, the young man sporting a black brooch shaped like a heart, with a mantis inside of it, the girl holding his arm sporting blonde hair and wearing an orange dress.

The group entered the gala, and while it was an exclusive event, it was quite crowded. "It's incredible how even in invitation only settings things can get really full," Kensuke mused, noting that for some reason a lot of guests were wearing masks. "...I don't remember masks being part of the dress code," he frowned, double checking just to make sure, and true enough, no mention of masks.

"Maybe someone mixed up the invitation details?" Ami blinked.

"They made quite a mix up with how many are wearing masks," Rei said dryly.

"Well... I guess it doesn't really cause us any real issues," Usagi blinked. "So... is there anything special you need to do? I'm guessing they didn't just invite you to have fun."

"Yes, there's a reason I'm wearing the brooch. It's a bit of ID to let me into more… restricted… areas. I wouldn't be surprised if Chalice is here as well, and considering the Diamond Kingdom, Garren might be here as well. Not sure about Leangle though," Kensuke mused.

"So… what should we do?" Rei asked after a moment.

"Try and mingle I guess. I need to see if I can find the other Riders." Kensuke said, earning nods from the girls as they went off in different directions.

Kensuke scanned the crowd, seeing that half of it was dancing to the ambient music by the small band, and the rest were simply talking.

Silently walking around the edge of the crowd, he tried to spot any of the other brooches on the clothes of the people present, not seeing anything for the first few minutes… Until he looked down a bit and saw someone.

A brown haired man with white eyes, though they clearly worked fine, sitting in an electric wheelchair, one of his legs in a cast… and a white clover shaped brooch on his tuxedo, a spider inside of it. "I see I was not the only one to receive and accept an invitation," the man said with a light chuckle. "Care to walk alongside me? I don't think this is the best place for us to talk about anything particularly important."

"I don't mind. I'd rather not talk in a crowd anyway, especially when there might be unwanted ears from the past around," Kensuke nodded, earning a nod of understanding from the man, who was apparently Leangle judging by the brooch. Still... this was slightly worrying, seeing as he was in no condition to walk... let alone fight Undead. "Speaking of which, Kensuke Inazuma," he said, holding out a hand as he walked alongside the chair.

"Silva Nix," Silva said, shaking his hand.

"Well this is a surprise." a third voice cunt in, making them look up to see a young man with dark hair and black eyes, glasses on his face, the frame having a heart built into it on the side… and a black heart shaped brooch was on his tuxedo, a mantis inside of it.

"Chalice." Kensuke said in surprise.

Chalice tutted "Not in public, the name's Kelch Zyklon. Nice to meet you face to face." he said, properly introducing himself.

"Likewise, the name's Kensuke Inazuma," Kensuke nodded.

"Wish I could share the sentiment, but in my case I've only met both of you the first time. The name's Silva Nix," Silva introduced himself again.

Kelch nodded, before looking around "Garren isn't going to come out and force us to introduce ourselves AGAIN, is he?" he asked jokingly.

At that the other two did in fact look around as well, and after a few moments… "Guess not. Still... considering who's hosting the party, I'd imagine he'd be around here somewhere," Silva mused.

* * *

Rei sighed as she avoided another, in her opinion, rather annoying man.

God it was like all those damn suitors her damnable father kept sending her way.

That man thought he knew what was right for her, and tried to plan out of her life for her.

Thank god her mother had put her foot down before she passed away.

It was thanks to her that she lived with her maternal grandfather, and, pervert the old man may be, he at least didn't try to dictate her life, and he actually cared about her.

Though that wasn't to say her father gave up, oh no, he kept on trying to use her like a pawn on a chessboard, trying many times to marry her off to the young heir of another company so he could gain control of it.

It made her sick to know she was related to that… bastard.

So really, can you blame her when she had trouble trusting men? Kensuke had at least proven himself by being a selfless hero, so she could accept that he had no ulterior motives of hanging around with them.

So deep in thought she was that she didn't realize she'd wandered away from the crowd... and was going into a notably empty area. She would have kept walking... if not for a sudden hand on her shoulder. "Miss? I'm sorry, but this is a restricted area. Please return to the Gala area," a new voice said.

Rei jumped in surprise, turning around to see a young man with tan skin, black hair that reached his neck, red eyes, an earring on his left ear that was shaped like a diamond (not the actual gem, but the playing card one) and a red brooch on his outfit, in the same shape as his earring with a stag beetle inside of it.

Rei for her part stopped short when she saw the last bit, as unlike most of the guests here, she knew what that kind of brooch meant. This man was one of the Riders, the one representing the Crimson Pheasant Tribe at that. However, she quickly recomposed herself. "Ah... I apologize. I was lost in thought," she said quickly.

"Must have been quite a bit to think about," the man frowned. "Just be careful not to do so again here. You wouldn't want security to escort you out, no offense. You'd be surprised how many people 'accidentally' try to wander into restricted areas," he said.

"Right…" Rei said slowly, before making a show of looking at his brooch "You know… one of my friends has something like that."

The young man rose an eyebrow at that, looking down at his brooch for a moment "I see…" he said, before sighing "If you see him first, tell your friend I would help, but number 10 of my suit did some damage to the system. I'm benched until it's repaired."

Rei winced at that, figuring the 10 of Diamonds must have been a rather powerful Undead then "Right, I'll let him know."

"In the meantime I've got a few things to take care of. Suffice to say there'll be something of a meeting to discuss recent events later, though its VIPs only. Private matters and all that," he said before walking off.

Rei looked at his retreating back for a bit, before she headed back to the area of the party, a bit of worry on her mind as she made sure to remember asking Kensuke which Undead represented the 10 of Diamonds. Hopefully, they could prepare to face it.

* * *

Ami felt... really out of place. If she were to be honest, these kinds of settings were never really her thing. It didn't help they were really only here to investigate, so that made things feel more awkward for her. As she was willing to keep to herself for the rest of the evening, something caught her attention.

"What are you doing all here by yourself?" came a new voice, causing her to turn to the source. Seeing a girl with long blonde hair and a red ribbon in it, wearing an orange dress that had white shoulders and long white gloves on her hands "Aren't you going to enjoy yourself?"

"Ah... well…" Ami started. "To be honest, I'm just here accompanying some friends. I... can't say I care much for this type of setting…"

"That's a shame," the girl frowned. "You're already here so you might as well enjoy it. I'm here with my boyfriend, but he's busy at the moment, so I'm just enjoying the atmosphere, and the food is pretty good, though be careful around the drinks. Pretty sure some of it is alcohol," she said.

"Thank you, I'll keep that in mind," Ami couldn't help but smile a bit. "Oh, where are my manners? I'm Ami Mizuno. It's nice to meet you."

"Minako Aino. Likewise," Minako said with a friendly smile.

* * *

Usagi sighed. So far the party wasn't going quite the way she'd hoped. To begin with she'd gotten a drink spilled on her dress (thankfully not on the side Luna was on, or the surprised yelp the cat would probably let out would have made things worse), so now she'd had to wash it off quickly, but now she was alone, standing at the edge of the ball. She would be lying if she said she didn't come to the ball with some romantic hopes, hopes that got stronger when she couldn't help but think of how this felt like something out of a western romance. But as it seemed to be many times, reality wasn't as nice as a fantasy. However, right as that thought crossed her mind…

"Would you care to dance?" a familiar voice said, to which she looked up and saw a man who looked just like Tuxedo Kamen, albeit missing the cape and tophat.

She was rather surprised, but delighted and soon the two were dancing together. However as they did, she couldn't help but feel like she'd danced with him before, long ago... though she knew that couldn't be right seeing as this was the first dance she'd been to... unless she'd met this man before in her past life.

* * *

While this was happening, Kensuke and the other Riders had, while discussing a few things, been ushered by a few of the people working for the Diamond Kingdom to a room that had clearly been set up just for them...complete with four chairs surrounding a discussion desk, each with the symbol of their respective Tribes on them. "Makes you feel like a real VIP," Kelch couldn't help but chuckle as they took their respective seats (Silva's seat was moved aside so his wheelchair could be moved into position.)

"Though it seems Garren is running late," Silva mused.

"He's probably part of security or something," Kensuke shrugged.

"Makes sense, guess we'll just chill here until he comes. Hope he doesn't take TOO long though," Kelch frowned.

"Promised a girl a dance?" Silva said with a light chuckle.

"As a matter of fact yes, I did." Kelch said with a grin.

"Oh right, you mentioned you had a girlfriend a lot." Kensuke said in remembrance.

Before any further conversation could take place, the door opened again, letting in the young man that Rei had met earlier "Good, I see we're all here." he said, though he was unable to hide his surprise as he looked at Silva.

"This is going to be part of the discussion yes, let's just get the formalities out of the way first." the man sighed as he sat straight while Kensuke and Kelch stood to introduce themselves.

"Kensuke Inazuma of the Azure Dragons. Blade," Kensuke said.

"Kelch Zyklon of the Black Tortoises. Chalice," Kelch said.

Silva paused for a moment before sighing. "Silva Nix of the White Tigers. Formerly Leangle," he said.

"I had a feeling it was something like that…" the man with the diamond brooch sighed. "Munt Vuur of the Crimson Pheasants. Garren, though my role is on hold until the system is repaired."

"Hold on, the Garren System is actually damaged? What happened?" Kensuke asked in worry.

"I fought Thief Chameleon. It copied my form and managed to beat me in hand to hand since I barely had any cards to help me, hell, the only other Undead I'd managed to beat at the time was Fire Fly." Munt sighed. "So when it got a chance, it actually damaged my belt, and we're doing our best to repair it quickly. I'm gonna make that thing a priority target once I have my powers back though, I can guarantee you that."

"I can't say I blame you." Kelch said with a frown, before looking to Silva "And? What about you? Why are you the FORMER Leangle?"

Silva sighed "An accident before I could actually set out to hunt down the Undead. I got in a car crash and my leg was pretty much shattered. It'll take a long time to heal, TOO long in fact. So instead, my little brother is being trained as we speak to become the second Leangle. He's only 13… I wish he didn't have to do this, but Change Spider wouldn't settle for anybody else but him since I was unavailable."

"Well that sucks…" Kensuke frowned, not really liking the idea of having to send a kid into the meat grinder so to speak.

"Well, enough about that. There's another reason I came here," Silva said, before taking out what looked like a half finished blocky object.

"This is?" Munt asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Its a power up for the Rider System. As you all know, while we do borrow the power of an Ace, but even that is heavily filtered. As such there are certain limitations to the Rider System. With these new systems, the Rouze Absorbers, we'll be able to draw power from the Royal Class Undeads," Silva explained.

"Impressive," Kelch whistled. "That'd really give us an edge over some of the stronger ones."

"What's the catch though?" Kensuke frowned.

"You need a Category Queen to activate them," Silva said simply.

"That's a big catch," Munt frowned.

"It's a better alternative than letting the Riders experiment with the Royal cards when they gain them… some people think that if Chalice uses Evolution Paradoxa in his Rouzer… he might become… **HIM**." Silva said darkly.

Kelch's eyes widened and he stood ramrod straight, color draining from his face, while the two other riders looked fearful "Well… I'm glad I haven't used THAT function of the Rouzer yet." he said in a small voice.

"Good. Keep it that way. We don't want to risk losing you and having another one of that kind running around." Silva said with a grimace. "For now though the system is still incomplete. Once it has been completed... and hopefully tested, expect a special delivery."

"That's something to look forward to," Kensuke nodded. "Now, speaking of which, I've got a bit of an update on the situation regarding the Dark Kingdom."

"Let's hear it then," Munt nodded.

"Well to begin with while this is a bit old news, one of the four Generals of the Dark Kingdom has been... dealt with... and its likely the second one is on his last legs so to speak, seeing as just recently we defeated what he claimed to be his strongest Youma," Kensuke nodded.

"We're not actually sure if he's going to try anything else or if the next one is going to be the third General, but we're keeping our guards up either way," Kelch said.

"Not just that, another reason I came here is because the Maoian that was sent here to guide the Sailor Scouts thought that Princess Dia might be the reincarnated Princess Serenity, though I think we can all agree that's ridiculous," Kensuke said, to which they all chuckled, agreeing how unlikely it was that the Moon Princess was right under their noses. "Though she also thought perhaps the treasure might be the Silver Crystal... any chances that might be accurate?"

"None sadly," Munt said. "We may not be very good mages, but even we would be able to tell if THE Silver Crystal had ended up in our possession."

"I thought as much," Kensuke nodded.

The four would have discussed more... if not for a sudden beeping coming from Munt's tuxedo to which he pulled out a small device. "The silent alarm?" he frowned, before his eyes widened. "There's an intruder inside Dia's room!" he gasped when he realized which alarm had been triggered.

"That's bad! Meeting adjourned, we need to deal with the intruder first!" Kelch said, earning a nod from all of them.

The group arrived quickly at the room where the Princess was staying for now, and when they opened the door… they were met with a strange sight. "What the…?! What's Naru doing in here?!" Kensuke blinked.

"And where's the intruder?" Kelch added as true enough, other than the unconscious Naru, Princess Dia was the only person in the room, holding the box that held the Treasure.

"Dia, is everything okay?!" Munt asked in alarm.

Dia turned around... and they could tell something was very wrong with her. "The Treasure is mine!" she laughed and ran out of the room, pushing past them.

"I'm going to take a guess and say Nephrite had a hand in this one," Kensuke said dryly.

"We'd better stop her before she does something she'll regret," Kelch agreed.

"I'd help but…" Silva sighed, looking at his wheelchair. "Not chase ready right now…"

"Oh and point me to where this Nephrite is if you see him," Munt said, his voice calm, but he was fingering something. "After that get out of the way while I fill him with lead."

Kensuke looked at him for a long moment, before looking back at the fleeing princess… "Ah, family. Now I get it." he said with a sage nod "I'd probably do the same if someone attacked Usagi like that."

They chased after Dia who'd ran into the ballroom area, and ended up going towards one of the balconies, looking ready to toss the box off of the balcony... to Nephrite who was waiting below.

However, before she could, Usagi ran up to her and stopped her, but in the struggle, she nearly fell off the balcony... had it not been for Tuxedo Kamen grabbing hold of her before she fell.

"Everybody's unconscious." Kensuke noted as all the guests were passed out, likely from a bit of power from whatever was attacking them.

"That's perfect then." Kelch said as he brought out his buckle before putting it to his waist, holding up the Change Mantis card, while Kensuke took out his own buckle and inserted Change Beetle into it, strapping it to his waist as usual, before they spoke in unison.

"Henshin."

" **Turn Up."**

As the blue screen passed over Kensuke, Kelch scanned the Change Mantis card through his own buckle.

" **Change."**

A black ripple went over his body at that, before it faded away, leaving him in Chalice's armor, the Chalice Arrow in hand.

The two were immediately at Tuxedo Kamen's side and with a pull, the three got Usagi back up on the balcony. "That was… too close for comfort," Blade sighed.

"Yeah... I don't want to do that again," Usagi sighed.

"Damn you all, you're always getting in the way!" Nephrite growled.

"You fossils could save us the trouble and quit while you still got heads!" Chalice shouted back.

"Oh no, he's not going to be keeping his for long," Munt said, stepping up next to them, before pulling out what he had hidden, revealing to be a large red gun with a green plate on the side that had a silver diamond inside of it, a golden line going down the barrel. "I'm gonna turn him into glue!" Munt roared, aiming the weapon and opening fire at Nephrite.

Nephrite let out a dismissive snort, and raised his hand, making a simple barrier, expecting to stop the bullets cold... only instead several broke through the shield, and hit him, much to his surprise, but the shots were weakened enough from hitting the shield that they didn't cause any serious damage. "What?!" he gasped.

"This thing was made to pierce some VERY tough hide. Thinking its a normal gun is going to be a mistake you won't live to regret!" Munt said.

"Well, he's got the right idea," Blade shrugged before he and Chalice jumped down the balcony. "Wait right there so we can rearrange your face!"

"This is bad," Nephrite growled, before quickly jumping out of the way of another volley of shots.

"You're not getting away!" came more familiar voices, as during the fight, Usagi, Rei, and Ami had transformed and were now joining the fight.

"Shabon Spray!" Mercury called out, casting a blanket of fog that made escape harder for him.

"This ends here!" Moon declared as she and Mars were preparing to launch their attacks... when something else decided to enter the fray, heralded by a storm of yellow pollen-like particles which rained down into the fog... and caused damage to anyone hit while dispersing the fog.

"How fortunate," Nephrite smirked before vanishing, leaving the group to deal with the Undead.

"I know this guy isn't working with the Dark Kingdom, but he always seems to pop in when their around." Mars groaned.

"Yeah, but tonight is the last time he does." Blade said.

"Time to see how he handles high speed techniques." Chalice grinned knowingly under his mask.

"Let's not be too hasty. We have one shot at this, better make it count," Blade said, earning a nod from Chalice.

"Leave getting him into position to me. You just wait for the right opening," Chalice said, readying his weapon, and getting some distance from Blade before firing arrow after arrow at the Undead. The Moth immediately set up its defenses, causing the arrows to fly back, but with the way Chalice was moving, the reflected shots didn't hit him.

"We'll help too!" Moon started, the three of them looking ready to help... until another issue presented itself. Namely Princess Dia suddenly standing up again and this time shrouded in a dark aura which manifested into a well... shadow that had a twisted version of Nephrite's face.

"Seriously? Now?" Mars groaned. As if the Undead wasn't enough to deal with.

"Let's take care of it quickly." Mercury said

"Allow me to help. This thing overstepped its boundaries when it possessed my sister." Munt said with a growl.

"Wait, she's your sister?" Moon couldn't help but ask in surprise.

"Yes yes, we don't look alike. That's because we needed a way for her to have a private life. Also her makeup is cracking thanks to all the crazy this thing is putting her through," Munt said dryly like he'd heard that a hundred times, and true enough, they noticed a few bits on the Princess's face that looked a bit cracked.

The shadow seemed to have enough of letting them talk, and let loose a burst of energy that threatened to push them back, but Munt quickly aimed his gun and fired, the special bullets causing the shadow to recoil a bit, and in that timing, Mars managed to attach a charm to Dia, causing the shadow to freeze up a bit.

"Get it now!" the two of them shouted, Moon nodding, grabbing her tiara.

"Moon Tiara Action!" she called out, throwing her tiara which hit the shadow, causing it to shout in pain as it faded away.

Back with the Riders, Chalice had figured out that the Moth's main specialty was reflecting direct attacks. Indirect though...gave it problems, such as the small tornado that whipped up a sandstorm around it courtesy of the Tornado Card. The Moth growled angrily before using its wings to finally stop the winds, and momentarily causing its barrier to flare up and soon fade...which was the opening Blade was waiting for.

" **Slash! Thunder! Mach!"**

"Lightning Step!" Blade called out, absorbing the three cards, and charging forward so fast the Moth barely registered as it was cut by the attack, electricity filling its body, before it fell over and exploded, the smoke clearing to reveal its belt had cracked open.

"About damn time!" Chalice growled, pulling out a Proper Blank and sealing the Undead in its card. "And stay in there."

"Undead down, and the Princess is... she's okay, right?" Blade asked.

"She's fine, she should wake up soon," Munt nodded... right as Dia did just that... her glasses falling off to reveal that she was actually quite beautiful without them.

"Huh? What happened?" she blinked.

"Easy there sis, let's just say you've had a very… eventful... night," Munt sighed.

"Well, glad everything's fixed for tonight." Chalice sighed.

"Well, the Princess needs to reapply her makeup I think." Moon said with a small laugh, pointing at the flaking makeup on Princess Dia's face, which underneath they could see tan skin just a bit darker than Munt's own.

"I'm… really confused." the Princess blinked as she was helped up by her brother.

"Don't worry about it sis, come on, let's get you cleaned up." her brother said with a kind smile as he walked back inside with her.

* * *

Several minutes later, everyone was back inside and the guests had all woken back up.

"It's good that nobody was hurt." Silva said with a relieved sigh.

"Tell me about it, tonight was pretty hectic." Kensuke added.

"At least we finally got Moth sealed up. We don't have to worry about people ending up like that anymore." Rei said, though she looked a bit glum as she thought about the people who DID die like that.

"We won't let it happen again Rei, we'll just kick up our training to be more prepared next time." Ami told her with a reassuring smile.

"We'll keep in touch. There are still some Undead that haven't reached Japan, but we'll be sure to inform you if any we're aware of find their way here," Munt said, as he and Silva still had to return to their respective Tribes for now.

"Much appreciated. I look forward to working with you in the future," Kensuke nodded.

"Speaking of work, where did Kelch get off to?" Silva mused.

"The Gala is still on for a couple more hours and the monsters are gone... I think you'll probably find him in the ballroom," Kensuke snorted.

"Ah, right. I almost forgot." Silva chuckled.

As they were talking, Dia had come onto a small stage set up in the room and revealed the priceless treasure of her home, a large diamond in the shape of a pheasant.

"Nicely sculpted. That thing must be worth a fortune." Kensuke commented.

"It is yes. People have tried to steal it or buy it off us many times. They always go back home crying." Munt smirked.

"Hey… has anybody seen Usagi?" Rei asked after a moment, making everyone blink as they realised that no, they HADN'T seen her for several minutes.

Though if they looked outside, they might have seen her finally receiving her first kiss.

* * *

 **And there!**

 **Yeah, lots of reveals this chapter.**

 **You already know the story is going to be big when it's over, but this helps you know relatively how big we're talking.**

 **Also, yeah, some episodes WILL get skipped over when barely anything happens in it.**

 **Anyway, with that done, here's something we've been forgetting these last few chapters:**

 **Rouze Card Count:**

 **Blade:**

 **Spade: Ace, 2, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10**

 **Club: 3**

 **Chalice:**

 **Heart: Ace, 2, 5, 6, 7, 8**

 **Diamond: 2**

 **Garren:**

 **Diamond: Ace, 6**


End file.
